Pasta Goulash

Nate is not a big fan of pasta so when he said pasta sounded good tonight I immediately changed the weekly menu to accommodate! I love pasta and I've had this recipe bookmarked for quite a while. It reminds of a story Alisha told me about noodle soup. I guess growing up Nate and his cousins used to be fed noodle soup as a dinner dish, the ingredients are elbow macaroni and tomato soup. That's it! It really does not sound appetizing to me (I'm not a fan of tomato soup) but I guess they all loved it! Anyway tonight's dish also features elbow macaroni. Paula Deen came up with this recipe and I saw it over at Mommy's Kitchen, but I changed it to my preferences. Both Nate and I really enjoyed how this turned out, I'll definitely be making this again.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, finely diced
1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked
1 (16 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (16 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning
seasoning salt
seasoned pepper
cheese for topping (optional)

Preparation:
In a decent sized pot, cook and brown the ground beef and season it with a little salt and pepper. Halfway through cooking, add the diced onions and cook until tender. Once that is finished add the water, tomato sauce, tomatoes, soy sauce, bay leaf, and garlic bread seasoning. Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the elbow macaroni, cover, and simmer for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the bay leaf and let stand, covered for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with some cheese sprinkled on top if you'd like. Enjoy!

Picture Updated 01/03/13