Marie’s Family Goulash

When my family was in a pinch, one of our tactics was making large batches of food and eat- ing it throughout the week. Even though it could be tedious to eat the same thing every day, I never really got sick of my mom’s goulash, and continued to make it on my own when I moved out and started college.

If you’re looking for a hearty, weeklong meal, give this one a shot.

While it’s nice to have fresh garlic, oregano, and other spices for this dish, sometimes you gotta pinch pennies where you can. This is how I make my favorite meal on a budget without sacrificing flavor.

NOTES: This meal contains meat. This meal also has a lot of taste testing involved to make sure you have the proper amount of spices.

Ingredients:

☐ 2 lbs of 90% lean ground beef ☐ 2 large cans of plain tomato sauce
☐ 1 lb of pasta of choice (I prefer medium shells to hold the beef/ sauce)
☐ Salt
☐ Pepper
☐ Onion Powder
☐ Garlic powder
☐ Oregano ( dried )

1. In a medium-large pot, put your water on to boil. Do not salt your pasta water as this will result in your meal being too salty later on (but if that’s your thing, who am I to stop you).

2. While your water heats up, take a large skillet and add your ground beef. On medium-high heat, start to cook your beef. Once it’s mostly cooked, turn down your temperature and add your salt and pepper. You want to get a decent amount in there, but be careful not to over-do it.

3. Once your pasta water is boil- ing, toss in your pasta of choice and boil it til it is al-dente. Strain your pasta and return it to the pot. 4. Pour your tomato sauce over the pasta and add your beef, fat and juices and all, into the pot.

5. From here, go absolutely bon- kers with the spices: salt, pepper, onionpowder,garlicpowder,and oregano. Let it sit for an hour on low heat, stirring about every 10- 15 minutes, and taste testing as you go to adjust as necessary.

The best thing about this dish is it’s customizable, so you can put in more or less of what you

want to bring into the flavor, and there’s literally no wrong way to do it. That’s why I heavily emphasize taste testing a LOT as you go.

After an hour, turn off the heat, and it’s ready to serve. This meal often lasts me a week and still tastes good when reheated. As a tip, add just a little bit of water overtop of the goulash when you reheat it. This will keep it from drying out a bit.