Through all kinds of weather, what if the sky should fall?
Just as long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter at all
The lyrics to the song “Side By Side”…see above, …fit our family. We didn’t have a lot growing up…we had food on the table and we had clothes on our backs, but we certainly were not affluent by any stretch of the imagination!
Dysfunctional? Maybe, …but certainly not any more so than all of our friends and the rest of our family circle! 🙂 We hadn’t heard that word until the last 20 years….
In those days…(gosh, I sound like it was back in the covered wagon days) :)…but to be honest it was a long time ago. ANYWAY, families stayed together, or lived close to their relatives, and fortunately some still do. However, our society has gone mobile and thankfully we have the technology to be able to use Skype or FaceTime and other means of keeping in touch.
Eating out was a luxury that our family just couldn’t afford. Eating out for us growing up…. meant going to a relative’s home for dinner. 🙂 We ate a lot of comfort food, which is what I grew up loving and still prepare to this day.
I have prepared a dish we call goulash.
This is not a culinary secret…in fact I have seen the term “goulash” associated with a completely different dish.
I am going to show you how my Mother and all our relatives made goulash. It is the way I make it today. It is a quick one pot dish that smells wonderful cooking and it tastes pretty good too. The ingredients were/are fairly cheap and simple, hence it was frequently on the menu at our dinner table.
Start by browning the ground beef, chopped onion and chopped jalapeno pepper.
Meanwhile start water to boiling point and add the pasta of your choice. I chose the small shells because it is what I had on hand.
Drain the pasta and put back into the hot pot.
Mix the tomatoes and ground beef mixture together and add to the pasta pot.
Cook for about 5-10 minutes heating through.
Serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese or cheese of your choice.
Printable recipe is below. Enjoy!
Me


- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium chopped onion
- 1 small chopped jalapeno pepper (optional)
- 2 cups of pasta...elbow macaroni was the pasta of choice, but any pasta will work
- 1 large can of diced tomatoes
- salt and pepper to taste
- In heavy skillet, brown the ground beef, jalapeno peppers and chopped onion until the ground beef is no longer pink
- Add the tomatoes to the ground beef mixture and cook for about 15 minutes
- Meanwhile, bring 4 cups of salted water to a boil in a deep pot.
- Add the pasta and cook until al dente or a little firm to the bite.
- Drain the pasta and put back into the pot
- Add the ground beef and tomato mixture
- Cook for about 5 more minutes
- We ate this goulash quite regularly and I never tire of it to this day. Add a salad and you have a complete meal. Quick and easy.
OK!!! Enough!!! Looking through your recipe’s Ma and about ready to lose my mind. Looks like I am going to have to mail you some plastic containers so you can send treats. Obviously, you will not be able to ship all of my favorites, but all cookies, candy, breads, and any other confection that you can think of will be severely welcomed. Just sayin’. Love ya Mom.
How about I send you all the printed recipes? 🙂
Luv Ya
Mom