Hamburger Sour Cream Casserole

I thought I'd post a recipe to enter in this week's Turning the Tables over at Around My Family Table.  Most of my cooking is from cookbooks - I'm not really that creative - but this is one of the recipes from my box of oldies we used to eat when I was a kid.  Both of my kids with teeth love it and it's really easy.   As you may notice, my food photography skills could use some improvement, but then all my photography skills could use some improvement :-)

Sour Cream Hamburger Casserole

2 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

30 oz. tomato sauce (2 small cans or one large one)

2 tsp chili powder

2 bay leaves

2-3 tbsp brown sugar

16 oz box shell noodles (you could also use penne, wagon wheels, etc)

8 oz. cream cheese

2 c sour cream

1/4 c milk

1/2-1 c shredded cheese

1. Brown ground beef with onions.  Drain fat if desired.  Add tomato sauce, chili powder, bay leaves, and brown sugar.  Simmer at least 10 minutes or until ready to assemble.

2.  Cook noodles in boiling water to 1 minute shy of time on box (so that as they heat in the oven they won't get mushy).  Drain noodles and combine with cream cheese, sour cream, and milk.

3.  Layer noodle mixture, then hamburger mixture, then top with shredded cheese to taste.  Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and cheese is melted.

Serves at least 8

This recipe will fill one 9x13 pan or, like I usually make it, 2 8x8-ish pans.  We are not big eaters around here, so I usually make one square casserole and one foil pan for the freezer (as seen below).  Each will feed us about twice. 

Also, you can adjust the chili powder and brown sugar amounts to your taste.  The original recipe I have calls for 1 tsp chili powder and 4-5 tbsp brown sugar, but we think that's too sweet.