a different beef and noodles

I am still looking for a new camera. This was not a pretty dish to begin with - tastes better than it looks. Actually, it looks like lasagna.

I love beef and noodles. I normally prepare something much like this except, I use stock instead of bouillon and I add mushrooms and peas. Just thinking about it makes me want to go home and make it right now! Anyway, I saw this recipe on another blog and in a cookbook called New Recipes from Quilt Country, which I bought years ago, and thought I would try it out since I like to try new recipes. I once read a statistic that the average American family eats the same 4 or 5 meals over and over and over. I think I might go nuts if that were the case.

Back to the recipe - I made some minor changes since the original recipe calls for the onion to be put raw into the dish and I just cannot take the risk of biting into an undercooked onion since it kind of freaks me out. So, I cooked the onions down with the ground beef. I also omitted the basil and used thyme. My husband and I liked this recipe well enough. If I make it again, I will use a cooked out tomato sauce in place of the tomato paste to get a more developed, richer taste.


2 cups sour cream (a 16-ounce container)
2 cups small-curd cottage cheese (a 16-ounce container) (I used the full fat stuff for the sour cream and the cottage cheese)
1/2 onion finely chopped
2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1 7- to 8-ounce package medium egg noodles
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 pounds lean ground round or well-trimmed chuck
2 6-ounce cans tomato paste
1 Tbsp. minced fresh thyme, or 1 tsp. dried
1 Tbsp. minced fresh oregano, or 1 tsp. dried
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325-f degrees. In a small mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, cottage cheese, and parsley and 1 teaspoon of salt; set aside. In a large saucepan, cook the noodles in well salted water. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large saute pan, over medium heat, and add the onion and cook until soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add the ground beef, stirring now and then until the meat is no longer pink. Drain off all liquid and discard. Stir in the tomato paste, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.

Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan and begin layering as follows: one-third of the meat sauce, one-half of the noodles, and one-half of the sour cream mixture. Repeat these layers, ending with the meat sauce. Bake uncovered for 1 hour or until the casserole is golden brown and bubbly. Allow to stand for 15 minutes, then serve.