The first time I made this recipe, I thought it was okay but not one that I would make again. However, it was one that seemed so promising, I decided to tinker with it to make it "mine." First of all, I added a can of diced tomatoes, drained, with diced green peppers and onions, and some grated carrot to the tomato soup and cooked it all with the hamburg. (This will make a lot, so I use the extra to make Spanish rice later on in the week....) I don't care for sliced American cheese particularly, so I used shredded cheddar. I think there is way too much sugar, so I cut that back to a couple of teaspoons (the carrot is a natural sweetner, anyway, so less sugar can be used). When I mixed the cream of chicken soup with the noddles, I also added additional shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. Voila! We love, love, love this recipe, and it gets served frequently. Wonderful comfort food! Great reheated, too.
I've been making this recipe for years. I think the brown sugar in the meat mixture makes the dish. It's plain and simple yet delicious. I do two things differently. One is add a chopped onion to the ground beef while I'm browning it. Two I also prefer shredded cheddar cheese to the American cheese. Excellent dish!
I have been making this recipe for about 20 years we grew up with it. except instead of layering it we mix it all together on top the stove just untill its hot. It cuts your cooking time in half. and we also like corn in it as well. It is so good!!
The first time I made it I followed the recipe exactly an thought it was only okay. The second time I made it I decreased the amount of brown sugar and used cream of mushroom instead of cream of chicken. It was much better the second time I made it. In fact several have asked for the recipe!
My husband and I both enjoyed this casserole very much! However where we live I do have to often substitute ingredients. On this recipe I used a combination of gouda and cheddar cheeses (american and cheddar are both less common here) and I used elbow macaroni noodles instead of egg noodles. I think the egg noodles would have been nicer for casserole appearance but the flavor was so good. After eating the leftovers the next evening my husband told me I have to make this again soon! =)
I wasn't too impressed with this. I followed the recipe exactly and it was dry. The flavor would have been better if it was moister. Can't think of any way to improve it maybe add more soup?
My family didn't like this. The brown sugar make's it taste too sweet. Guess it could be made without the sugar.
My family loves this recipe. The first time I made it I did not change a thing. I now use cream of mushroom soup in place of the cream of chicken. I also add a can of corn to the layers. My family also likes cheddar cheese over American. The tomato soup along with the brown sugar and chopped onion does amazing things to the ground beef. I never would have thought. You can play with this recipe and never come out wrong. Totally enjoyed!!!
When i made this the first time it was a "What do I have I can throw together?" kind of night. I never really follow recipes exactly and that night I made it that night with cream of potato instead of chicken. I also used regular macaroni noodles and most cheese. It was so fantastic my husband took it to work and his coworkers all asked abotu it.
