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    Traditional Hamburger & Rice

    April 5, 2017 By Meagan Fikes 2 Comments

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

    To skip straight to the recipe, click here.

    You're probably wondering about the not-so-catchy recipe name. That's because this is another family recipe but it never really got a name. The original recipe was a soup and we called it "hamburger and rice soup". The version I'm sharing, we called "hamburger and rice sauce".

    I honestly only remember eating the soup version growing up, however I went with the sauce version because 1) Hubby doesn't like soup much and 2) I'm terrible at photographing soups. See exhibit A.

    Working on this recipe was a lot more interesting than my other recipes. Sure, it was already created but somebody could really only follow the instructions if they had made it before. For example, "fill skillet with water 2 inches from top" had to be translated to "stir in 4 cups of water". Classic family recipe instructions!

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

    I also learned a lot of family history in the process. I always thought this was my Grandma JoAnn's recipe but when I called to talk to her about it, I actually learned it was created by her grandma - my great, great grandma, Matilda Fernandez.

    My great, great grandma didn't speak much English so the story is somewhat vague but my grandma told me everything she knew.

    As a young teenager, Matilda and her best friend, Carmen Perez, left their homes in Madrid, Spain and traveled to Puerto Rico. We don't really know if they spent any time in Puerto Rico or just passed through but they ended up continuing to Collinsville, Illinois.

    Collinsville is just outside St. Louis where most of my family lives today. At the time, it was also the location of a Spanish community where they chose to live. Here, they were given nutritional guidelines of what types of food to eat at each meal to stay healthy (so basically, include a starch, a meat, a vegetable, etc.) Our understanding is that my great, great grandma created her hamburger and rice soup recipe by using these nutritional guidelines and ingredients she usually had.

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

    Since the ingredients were so basic, it eventually became the sort of "go-to, budget-friendly meal". It got passed down through the years and became my Grandma JoAnn's favorite recipe. She said her parents thought she was crazy for liking it so much because it wasn't anything special - just an everyday meal.

    I'm not sure when the "sauce" version of the recipe was created but I ate the soup version all the time as a kid. If you want to try the soup version instead, simply swap out the skillet for a stock pot, add extra water to make it "soupy", and instead of serving over cooked rice, add about a cup or so of uncooked rice to the soup at the same time you add the potatoes. It's as simple as that! You can also substitute sweet potatoes if you can't eat white potatoes and cauliflower rice if you don't tolerate white or brown rice.

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

    It's surprising how such a simple recipe can have so much flavor. If you look at the ingredients in this recipe, it's only simple, everyday ingredients like salt & pepper, beef, potatoes, onion, tomato paste, rice,.... doesn't sound like much. There's parsley in the photos as a garnish but it's not actually part of the original recipe. It really made me remember that food naturally tastes good and you don't always have to pull out any fancy cooking tricks or 30 spices to make a delicious meal. (But I do love my spice collection!)

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

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    Recipe

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

    Traditional Hamburger & Rice

    5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews
    • Prep Time: 10 mins
    • Cook Time: 1 hour
    • Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
    • Yield: 5 servings 1x
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    Ingredients

    • 1 ½ lbs russet potatoes (or sub sweet potatoes)
    • 2 lb ground beef
    • 2 tsp salt, divided
    • 1 tsp pepper, divided
    • 1 yellow onion, diced
    • 6 oz tomato paste
    • 4-6 C water
    • 3 C cooked rice or cauliflower rice
    • parsley for garnish, optional

    Instructions

    1. Peel and dice potatoes into bite sized pieces. Dice a few pieces very small - these will break down and thicken the sauce later. I just cut the end pieces smaller.
    2. In a large skillet over med-high heat, brown and roughly crumble the ground beef. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, more or less to taste.
    3. Once the beef is fully cooked, add the diced onion and sauté until translucent.
    4. Stir in tomato paste and about 4 cups of water. Add potatoes and another 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Stir everything together and reduce to a simmer.
    5. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are softened. Keep adding additional water (1-2 more cups) to keep the sauce from getting too thick. The end result should be like thick spaghetti sauce. Note: covering with a lid will reduce liquid evaporation and make the potatoes cook a little quicker.
    6. Serve the sauce over rice and garnish with fresh parsley and additional pepper, if desired.

    Did you make this recipe?

    Tag @eatsomethingdelicious on Instagram and hashtag it #eatsomethingdelicious

    Hamburger & Rice | A family favorite known as "hamburger & rice" that's stuck around ever since my great, great grandmother created it after immigrating from Spain to the U.S. | eatsomethingdelicious.com

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Karly

      April 07, 2017 at 1:14 pm

      This is SUCH a great idea! Love the beautiful, delicious simplicity of traditional family meals. Need to try this soon!

      Reply
      • Meagan Fikes

        April 07, 2017 at 9:35 pm

        Thanks, Karly! I definitely tend to associate "simple" with bland and boring foods but I'm finding more often than not, that's not the case at all!

        Reply

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    About Meagan

    About Meagan

    I started out with a passion for creating unique recipes and decorating cakes. In June of 2012, I discovered I was not only severely gluten intolerant but also, many of the foods I was eating I simply couldn't include in my diet anymore. Fortunately, my love for trying new recipes, ingredients, and cooking methods made re-learning how to cook seem more like a fun challenge than an unfortunate circumstance. I'm so happy to say that my dietary restrictions haven't stopped me from doing what I love. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do.

    Some links on this site are affiliate links which means that if you make a purchase at one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only link to products and services I personally recommend and believe will benefit my readers. These links help to cover some of my blogging expenses. I appreciate your support!

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    I was going to write some jokes about logging but I was going to write some jokes about logging but you wooden get them. Because they’re super dumb. Ok, I’ll share anyway.
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How do lumberjacks find a missing exponent?
By using LOGarithms
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What did the lumberjack wear to work on casual Friday?
His favorite Tree-shirt
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When is the most stressful time of year for a tree?
Sept-timber
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I told you they were bad, right? 😅 Cut me some slack, they were for a kids birthday party. Oh, and I have more…
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Why did the logger get a gym membership?
He wanted to get lumber jacked 💪
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Why couldn’t the tree answer the riddle?
He was stumped
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What kind of beer do lumberjacks drink?
Loggers 🍻
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Why did the logger have back pain?
He didn’t have enough lumber support
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Embarrassingly enough, I have a bunch more but I’ll save them for a project in a later blog post. For now, I just have the cake.
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This is a 2 part, absolutely massive blog post on making this logging scene cake from start to finish. The cake is chocolate and vanilla layers with cookies & cream filling. And as always, gluten free and dairy free.
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The recipe is at the link in my profile
👉@eatsomethingdelicious
Thanks for chopping by 👋
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #dessert #foodallergies #celiac #glutenintolerant #eatsomethingdelicious #cakedecorating #foodbloggerpro #cake
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Ok enough gross stuff. My finally clean again space has made me so much more focused and motivated to get things done. I’ve burned through most of my work to-do list and made it to the fun stuff that I don’t have to do but just want to. And since I was at that point, I decided to do something for myself by working on my blog. And I went a little overboard by working on 5 blog posts at once. I probably won’t get through them all but I have 3 ready so far.
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This first post is a 30 minute ground beef stroganoff that I made almost 3 years ago. I didn’t do a great job writing down the recipe so I wasn’t able to post it until I figured out what I forgot to write down. Figured it out the other day and it was so good!
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You can get the recipe at the link in my profile
👉@eatsomethingdelicious
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #celiac #eatsomethingdelicious #30minutemeals #foodallergies #foodbloggerpro #glutenintolerant
    Not really a new recipe but I shared my sons 4th b Not really a new recipe but I shared my sons 4th birthday cake on the blog today. Also wrote a recap on everything that’s been going on for the past year since I would normally write about it in my blog posts but haven’t written anything! I don’t know when I’ll be back on there. I’ve only had time for site maintenance and I really miss blogging but I’ll be back on once things slow down. The link to the new post is in my profile!
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #cakedecorating #foodallergies #celiacdisease
    I almost didn’t make this into a casserole becau I almost didn’t make this into a casserole because the sauce and pasta combined made a delicious side dish on their own! @beldolcefood #sponsored my most recent blog post and provided me with their new gluten free fusilli and penne to try out. I used the fusilli in this recipe and the sauce is a creamy, cheesy enchilada sauce made from just 3 ingredients.
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I ended up adding taco meat, fire roasted tomatoes, corn, black beans, and dairy free cheese to make a taco noodle casserole. Then we ate it all and I made it again! This is one of those recipes that will be going in our regular meal rotation.
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This is a pretty versatile recipe. It can be made vegan just by leaving out the meat and it’s just as good. And as I said earlier, the pasta with just the sauce makes a really good side dish. You can also top it with whatever you like such as cilantro, jalapeños, sour cream, scallions, or salsa.
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The recipe and details on @beldolcefood new gluten free pasta is linked in my profile:
@eatsomethingdelicious
Let me know if you try it!
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #glutenfreefacility #pasta #casserole #beldolce #foodallergies #f52grams #foodbloggerpro #celiac #glutenintolerant #eatsomethingdelicious
    I’ll just say it - I’m one of those bloggers t I’ll just say it - I’m one of those bloggers that makes cakes for their blogs “birthdays”. Or uses the blog birthdays as an excuse to make yet another cake recipe....yeah, that’s probably more accurate.
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Definitely felt like I needed a good excuse for this one because it’s my fifth variation of gooey butter cake! However, my site is seven years old so maybe I should have had seven gooey butter cakes ready to go? Guess I’d better get caught up before year eight 😉
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Anyways, I really enjoyed this carrot cake variation of gooey butter cake. The cake layer/crust swaps out the yellow cake mix with spice cake mix and I added in some shredded carrots and raisins. I kept the “gooey” top layer the same except that I topped it with a sprinkle of cinnamon and additional raisins before baking.
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If you want to try the recipe, the link is in my profile: @eatsomethingdelicious
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#gooeybuttercake #foodallergies #glutenfree #dairyfree #foodbloggerpro #baking #celiac #f52grams #f52sweets #glutenintolerant #carrotcake
#glutenfreelife #eatsomethingdelicious
    Here are a few last minute treat ideas! The carame Here are a few last minute treat ideas! The caramel stuffed crispy rice treats recipe is written below. The other recipes (gooey butter cookies, salted caramel turtles, and pumpkin snickerdoodles) can be found at the link in my bio!
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CARAMEL STUFFED CRISPY RICE TREATS
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INGREDIENTS
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• ¼ C dairy free butter, divided
• 4 C mini marshmallows (regular and vegan both work), divided
• 6 C gluten free rice cereal *see notes*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, divided
• 10-11 oz dairy free chewy caramels
• 11.25 oz can sweetened condensed coconut milk
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DIRECTIONS
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1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the dairy free butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add 2 cups of marshmallows and stir until they are melted with no lumps.
2. Remove from heat and stir in ½ tsp of vanilla then gently fold in 3 cups of cereal until it is well-combined with the marshmallows.
3. Using wet hands, press this mixture evenly into the bottom of a 7x11 inch casserole dish and set aside.
4. Unwrap the caramels and add them along with the sweetened condensed coconut milk to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir often to avoid burning. Once this has turned to a completely smooth sauce, pour over the cereal layer.
5. Make your top cereal layer by repeating steps 1 and 2. Distribute this evenly over the caramel layer and pat down with wet hands.
6. Once the treats have cooled down, they will firm up and hold their shape when cut. Cut into squares and serve.
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NOTES
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• Potential allergens contained in this recipe may vary due to brands of ingredients used, product reformulations, etc. Please verify that all your ingredients are safe for you to consume and always be mindful of allergen cross contamination while cooking.
• Double check that the cereal you use is gluten free. At least one brand carries 2 different versions of rice cereal and only one is GF.
• Don't make both cereal layers in one large batch then divide it up. The top layer will cool and firm up before you can layer it on which will make the caramel seep out when you press it down.
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