Zucchini Hamburger Helper—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

Writing this blog has been such a blessing in my life.  It’s made me go boldly to places I never would have gone otherwise, to learn things I never would have learned, to try foods I never would have eaten.  I never would have opened those buckets of 55+ year-old milk or beans.  I never would have brought their brother and sister buckets to my house.  (And I would have missed out on getting the 200 pounds of sugar stored with them.  That was a score, for sure.)  I certainly wouldn’t have delved into the world of herbal medicine.  At least, not to this extent.  I never would have experimented with substituting coconut oil for butter in Magic Mix. I never would have made eggless mayonnaise with aquafaba.

The certainty of a very uncertain future promised by the evil forces running our planet for the time being would eventually have persuaded me to look at the garden differently.  But the need to come up with new articles each day prompts me to try new things sooner than they actually become necessary.

And so it is that I’ve come to look at zucchini with different eyes.  I re-purchased a zucchini cookbook that I had previously received from my mother (and subsequently donated to a thrift store) when she culled her cookbook collection.  We tried a lot of good recipes from it, some of which I have shared here.  Using zucchini in so many various ways makes a person wonder what else can be done with it.

Seeing zucchini prepared as Asian zoodles or subbing for lasagna noodles made me wonder how it would fare as the pasta ingredient in hamburger helper skillet meals.  I thought it might work.  I used two of the hamburger helper recipes I posted several years ago as the basis.

Lasagna Hamburger Helper with Zucchini
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup fresh, or 1/3 cup dehydrated and reconstituted)

3-4 cups sliced zucchini

1 cup water
1/3 cup SOS Mix
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (fresh or freeze-dried and reconstituted)

Brown the hamburger and onions in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the zucchini slices and water and cover.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  In a small bowl, whisk the SOS Mix and water until there are no lumps and add to the skillet.  Add the remaining ingredients, except for mozzarella cheese.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and stir frequently until the sauce is thickened and the zucchini is cooked, about 15 minutes.  Top with mozzarella cheese 3 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings.

Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup dried onion, rehydrated in 1/2 cup warm water
3 cups sliced zucchini

1 cup water
1/3 cup SOS Mix
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ketchup
2 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard

Brown the hamburger and onions in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the zucchini slices and 1 cup of water.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Combine the SOS Mix and water and add to the skillet, cooking another 10 minutes or so and stirring frequently until the zucchini is tender.  Stir in the cheese, salt, ketchup, and mustard. 

Family reviews: If we gave our regular hamburger helper with macaroni noodles 5 stars, these recipes with zucchini subbed in would rate a 4.8 or 4.9.  They are really that good, but sometimes one misses the comfort of pasta.  Something like that.  Most of the time we don’t even think that we’re eating zucchini instead of pasta.  However, when we think about how we can grow zucchini ourselves and use it throughout the summer and into the fall, and make our stores of pasta last longer, then we’d rate these recipes a 5.2.  They’re definitely worth trying.

Links to related posts:

Terror in a Bucket

Coconut Oil for Butter in Magic Mix  

Eggless Mayonnaise  

Asian Zoodles  

SOS Mix and Hamburger Helper Copycats 

Magic Mix Entrees—Beef Stroganoff and Cheeseburger Mac ‘n’ Cheese