While in itself, Hamburger, Chicken or Tuna Helper is a tasty easy dish to prepare for that special evening when you're at home, alone, without any plans of any kind. While I'm a big supporter of making this delicious product as instructed (in addition to butchering comma usage) I have come up with a few tips to improving this delicacy to turn that special dinner into a downright magical evening.
1) Always use hot sauce: It doesn't matter if you're cooking the chicken and noodles Alfredo or the "Stroganoff", a little hot sauce really goes a long long way to bringing out the dormant flavors of the packet of spices. Also if you have McCormick seasonings I recommend picking one at random and hitting it until you say to yourself "Damn that could be too much seasoning". It never is and it takes your meal from the conservative crowd pleaser that they package to something to write home about and claim that you made from scratch.
2) Use ground turkey: While for some reason it smells like eggs when you're browning it, ground turkey is definitely the way to go in Hamburger Helper. With it being much leaner than beef hamburger, using the turkey doesn't change the taste of the finished product (especially if its properly seasoned as instructed in step one). It's also usually much cheaper in the grocery store, which is always nice. Also soy milk works fine for all you lactose free hellions out there.
3) Can and a plan: You can also increase the nutritional value of the dish by choosing a can of vegetables and adding it to the dish right before simmering. Often kidney beans, peas, corn or Lima beans compliment the dish well. You just have to do a little soul searching to decide which can will kick your variety of Helper to the next level. Not only are you increasing the nutritional value at least by 10, you do so without dirtying a separate pot to cook the side.
4) The box lies: In my experience, if you make the dish to the specifications on the box, you will end up with some really soupy shit. So with each of the wet ingredients, bump the amount of liquid down a quarter to half a cup. Its still plenty to properly cook the ingredients but without the pool of sauce. You will need to experiment with different varieties to decide which need more de-moistification. The one that apparently comes with Fritos is still a soupy thorn in my side.
5) Always better later: The good thing about making a Helper by yourself is that there is plenty for another meal. I usually have the leftovers for lunch the next day and they are 9 out of 10 times even better than they were the night before. When a Helper is left to its own devices, it thickens up, so the next day even the soupiest Helper has become a hearty Tupperware dish of deliciousness. I don't have all the scientific evidence in yet, but I'm pretty sure that if left in the fridge, it never goes bad. So don't throw out those leftovers, save them for another day.
I hope you have all enjoyed this little cooking show. Feel free to put in requests for other dinner dilemmas you may be having, and know that if you aren't spilling when stirring, you're probably not stirring well.
1 comment:
Another awesome post. My roommates and I made Hamburger Helper at least 3 times a week at the apartment we had. I usually used the hot sauce, and sometimes threw in Emeril's Italian Seasonings (BAM!), but we always had our canned green beans on the side. I never thought about throwing them right in the real food. But that extra pot to wash was always, always a source of contention in the apartment.
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