Mr. Charlie

Mr. Charlie is a family recipe my parents made for me when I was little. Now, I make it for my boyfriend, and he loves it.  He wanted to know where the recipe came from.  He even asked Yahoo answers. He got an answer back.  A person said that it came out of an old Navy cookbook.   That would make since, since my dad had been in the Navy.
When I make mine, I kind of do it a cheating way.  The real way involves buying plain elbow pasta.  I start with a box of cheap macaroni and cheese.  I would call this a one pot meal, but it really takes two.
Ingredients:
1lbs Ground Beef
1 Medium to Large Onion, Chopped
1 Can Tomato Soup
2 Cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 Box Macaroni and Cheese
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Can Mushrooms
Salt and Pepper to Taste

  Most of the Ingredients

I forgot the tomatoes.  Also not pictured: 1/2 Cup of Milk

Start by browning the ground beef and chopped onion in a 2 to 4 qt pot.  While that is cooking, in another pan, start boiling the elbow pasta as instructed on the box of Mac 'n Cheese. After the beef is cooked, drain the grease off.  

Ingredients before Pasta is Added

I then, start adding all of the other ingredients into the pan with the beef. I drain the mushrooms and add those.  Then, I add the can of tomatoes without draining them. I dump the cheese powder from the box of Mac 'n Cheese into the pan.  I add about a 1 and a 1/2 of the shredded cheese to the pan.  I put in the can of tomato soup in.  I then pour the 1/2 cup of milk into the soup can to rinse out the left over soup.  I pour that into the pot, then.  After that, I add a very small amount of salt and a very large amount of ground pepper.  I like pepper!  

      Drained Elbow Pasta

When the pasta is done, I drain it.  I then add it to the pot of ingredients.  This is when I start tasting.  I usually add more shredded cheese at this point.  You can use any cheese you like, but I like the shredded sharp cheddar or Colby.  I let the cheese and other ingredients simmer for about ten minutes.  

Mr. Charlie

This dish is very flexible!  You can add Italian seasoning to it and go one way, or add Chili Powder to it and make it a Tex Mex Dish.  You could also change the can of tomatoes to a can of Rotel Tomatoes and Chilis to go in the Tex Mex direction.  

Mr. Charlie with a Roll

This is an easy meal that can be made to your taste.  You can serve it with tortilla chips or with a roll.  This is also a little piece of my family's history!  Enjoy!