Hamburger Potato Casserole

Planning a menu for the week isn't easy. Writing down "leftovers" for Saturday or Sunday is easy...until Saturday or Sunday arrives. Then the work starts trying to figure out just how to use those leftovers. 

And what happens if you don't have any leftovers? We had a couple popular Grandma mainstays that were totally consumed this week, so there weren't a lot of leftovers to pick from except some hamburger and a big container of mashed potatoes. So I went through Grandma's clipped recipes and found this little gem for Hamburger Potato Casserole that used a few staples and fit perfectly into our leftover shortage.  

One suggestion for this recipe...make sure you use a good lean ground beef.

Hamburger Potato Casserole

½ to 1 lb very lean ground chuck

½ cup bread crumbs

½ cup milk

1 small onion, diced

½ cup celery, dice

1 large egg, slightly whipped

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2-½ cups prepared mashed potatoes

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup salsa or heated marinara sauce

Soak bread crumbs in the milk for about 5 minutes. Mix ground beef, salt, pepper, onion, celery, egg, and bread crumb and milk mixture. Put in casserole dish and bake at 350F for 35 minutes. When done, take out of oven and top with mashed potatoes and shredded cheese. Return to oven and cook for additional 10-15 minutes until potatoes are heated through and cheese is melted. Serves 4.

NOTE: When serving, I placed each helping on top of a spoonful of salsa and it was delicious! Perhaps a dollop or two of heated marinara would be good too! Sky is the limit!