Beefaroni/Sausaroni

One of my assignments as an Allrecipes.com Brand Ambassador was to take a ground beef recipe and change it using Johnsonville Sausage.  All righty!! Don't need to ask me twice!
I know the picture is not stupendous but it was nighttime, it was dinnertime and we were hungry- nuff said.

This recipe was for Beefaroni.  Ground beef, tomato sauce, cheese and pasta. Being JennyMac who is notorious for playing with food.  I did some tweaks.  Those ingredients was just TOO boring.  I had to add some onions.  Double onions.  Raw onions in the mix and French's Onions on top.  It was great!  Of course if you are a fan of Johnsonville and have a FB page, try Johnsonville Kitchens- its another source of recipes plus this way you get a more open forum of things people are doing/sharing.

Now since this is a tweak, I will put the original recipe and provide the link to Allrecipes - following it I put my notes.  Here is a link to my customized Sausaroni recipe.

Beefaroni
from Allrecipes.com

1 pound ground beef
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked elbow macaroni
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Crumble the ground beef into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until evenly browned. Drain.
3. While the ground beef is cooking, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain, and stir in butter. Transfer to a large casserole dish, and mix in the ground beef, tomato sauce, and Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the top.
4. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until heated through and bubbly.

Cook's Notes:
1.  Substitute one package of Johnsonville Sausage, I used HOT Italian.
2.  I added half chopped RAW onion to step 3.  We wanted the onion with a little bit more bite....not faded and mooshy.
3.  I added salt and pepper and 1 tsp. garlic powder to the whole mix not just on top.
4.  I sprinkled half a container (about 1 cup) of French's Fried Onion on top for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
5.  Next time I will do this half tomato sauce and half diced tomatoes!
6.  Added BONUS!  Did you know that they make CORN ELBOW pasta for those who are GLUTEN FREE?

I am sure your KIDS would love this.  Using the mild or sweet sausage I am sure would be good,  not sure hot your kids can take it.  I am so used to HEAT that my tongue may be OFF.  lol  Serve with a salad and garlic bread. 

YUM!