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debiraymond~ have you ever made or tried burger bundles?
They are quite tasty ~
Burger Bundles
Stove Top Stuffing (herb or Savory flavor)
Hamburger
Rice
Cream of mushroom soup
thyme
rubbed sage
marjoram
rosemary
pepper
Seasalt
garlic & green onions sauteed in 1 tbps ghee or olive oil (optional)
eggs ( 2 per 3 pounds of 7% or lower fat)
For a 9 x 13 casserole, go with the smaller amounts on the rice & water, for a larger 13 x 24, use the larger amounts.
First make up a pot ( about 2 pkgs worth) of stovetop stuffing, herb flavor.. you can make your own instead, but this is one timesaver I think is quite tasty ~ Set aside.
Next get a large casserole or chafing dish ( I like to use my stainless steel 13 X 24, but then I always have a crowd to feed, too) and decide how much rice you are going to need. I usually use about 3 or 4 cups dry rice, and 5 or 7 cups water. Stir that up in the bottom of the pan, and add a can of cream of mushroom soup. ( you can make a white roux, and fresh sauteed mushrooms, & green onions, if you wish, but campbells works quite nicely). Sprinkle in some sea salt & Stir that up.
Then you take several pounds of hamburger (enough for each person to have either one whole, or half a serving, these things are big & filling), and flavor it however you like. (I like to add thyme, seasalt, rubbed sage, marjoram, rosemary & pepper. Also, green onions & garlic sauteed together & added to the meat as well is quite tasty) Add a few eggs & bread crumbs if you wish, in order to hold the mixture together. ( I use 7% fat, so it needs eggs to bind it)
Once you have a nice workable mixture, take a handful of beef, & pound it as flat as you can in your hand, then take a spoonful or so of the stuffing, place it in the center of the meat patty, and wrap the patty around it, tucking all the edges in, and drawing enough meat under to completely cover the stuffing. The flatter you can make the patty ( without holes) the better. Place it bottom side down ( bottom is the side you tucked) in the casserole dish, on top of the uncooked bed of rice, salt & water. Continue on till you have filled the dish with as many stuffed patties as you need or have room for.
Once done with that, wash up your hands, and take the remainder of the stuffing ( there is always leftover, & since it's now unsafe to eat the way it is cuz of meat hands) & spread it around the pan generously.
Then wash up again & get out one or two more cans of cream of mushroom, and spread it over the top, kind of smoothing the lumps here & there.
Next part is important, cover the whole affair with a nice strong tinfoil. Make a very good seal. Trust me, I somehow always overload the pan & it either spills on the way to the oven, or bubbles over in cooking, but a nice sealed tinfoil lid works perfectly, also seals in the steam necessary to cook the rice properly.
Cook it at 350* till it smells done. ( this is where recipe writing always gets me. I cook by smell, and it's really hard for me to estimate just how long I actually left something in the oven.....The meat will be brown, the rice will be done, the edges will be bubbling, & slightly browned, & it will smell heavenly....lol... probably about an hour or so....enough time to get some veggies on the stove, cooked up completely.)
This is a family favorite, but since it uses so much meat, we only eat it once or twice a year, & only half servings at that, but since it's so savory, it tastes just as delicious as leftovers.
~Red
