Granny Opal (my husband’s granny) was a simple home cook who loved to feed her family and that she did with food such as  fried squash, okra, red velvet cake and many other hearty dishes. One of our favorites that she made is one allusive recipe that I have been chasing for years, 17 years on May 21st to be exact, and that would be Granny Opal’s Hamburger Casserole.

There was no copy of this casserole, she knew what went in it and she cooked it, we ate it and no one thought to go behind her and capture the recipe as she cooked. Why didn’t we do that? We took it for granted that she would always be there with macaroni, tomato sauce and cheesy goodness in hand and she would never leave us. Granny took the recipe to heaven with her.

When Jay and I were married I set out to recreate Granny Opal’s hamburger casserole and I have made way to many versions of this thing. How many variations of elbow macaroni, tomato something, hamburger and cheese can there really be? A lot. There are many recipes online that I have tried including tomato sauce, ketchup, soup, diced, chopped, pureed. The hamburger and macaroni were easy enough. Cheese gave me a fit was it mild cheddar or regular cheddar, even threw in colby-jack at one point because I was out of options. Did she add some milk along with the cream of mushroom? I didn’t know and some years ago I was willing to give up trying and never do it again because every time I sat a bowl of hamburger casserole down on the table DH would say, “it’s missing something” after the second bite. He was right but I couldn’t figure it out.

This last week I gave it one more try just to say that after this long I really had tried to get it and it was what it was.  I sat the bowl down and served plates with piping hot memorable goodness in hopes that this one would live up to it and I looked at the love of my life just praying that he would remember his Granny’s dish one more time. He smelled and tasted and took another bite and said, “it has been so long since I’ve tasted Granny’s but I think this might be it.” What?! This is it. A humble macaroni, hamburger, cream of mushroom, cheddar cheese casserole has taken 17 years for me to get right? Then he looked at me with those sad eyes and said, “but it still is missing something”. I looked at my plate and said, “it has to be her love”. She loved you guys right under God and it isn’t going to ever taste like her casserole because she isn’t here to stir it. He agreed and we moved on with our lovely casserole and telling stories of Great Granny Opal to littleman.

Granny Opal’s Hamburger Casserole

1  to 1-1/2lbs. ground hamburger, browned

 1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can of tomato sauce

1/2 soup can of milk

2 cups of mild cheddar cheese, shredded

3 cups elbow macaroni

Start your water for macaroni and cook according to package.

Brown your hamburger and drain.

Stir in tomato sauce, soup and milk into hamburger and heat through.

Combine macaroni and cheese (reserving 1/4c. cheese for the top) into the hamburger mixture.

Add cheese to the top and place in a 425 F. oven. Cook until brown on top.

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