Mrs. Leeper's Cheeseburger Mac

Always on the look-out for easy to prepare, natural and tasty gluten-free dinners, I recently served up Mrs. Leeper’s Cheeseburger Mac. This is a wheat free, gluten free mix of rice pasta and sauce. I only needed to add in ground beef, though ground turkey or tofu could be substituted. Though my experience with “hamburger helper”-type mixes is a bit limited (usually filled with chemicals and sodium), celiac Rob couldn’t wait to try this.

So I’m just prefacing that I wasn’t sure what to expect from Mrs. Leeper’s.

The prep for the cheeseburger mac was astoundingly easy. I browned a pound of (organic) beef, then drained it. To the pan, I added 1-1/2 cups hot water, 1-3/4 cups fat-free milk, plus the sauce mix. All of this was heated to a boil, then I added the gluten-free rice pasta, reduced the heat and simmered for 13 minutes. After 13 minutes, I removed from the heat and let it stand a few minutes.

Taste

On the package is a statement that Mrs. Leeper’s tastes great, is fast and pleases everyone. Rob and I were more than pleasantly surprised. It was not bad at all! The gluten free cheeseburger mac wasn’t overly cheesy, had a great texture, and was quite satisfying. The rice pasta, a product of Italy, was extremely close to gluten pasta. Of course I wouldn’t say this was exactly gourmet fare- but for celiacs struggling to find a convenient and wholesome meal that can be prepared in minutes- you can’t beat Mrs. Leeper’s gluten free cheeseburger mac for dinner! One tip I will impart, is to take the advice of the package, and add some toppings to further enhance the flavor. Fresh chopped tomatos, black olives, and/or scallions would give the cheeseburger mac a boost.

Ingredients

Rice pasta: (organic brown rice flour, organic white rice flour).

Cheeseburger seasoning: whey, modified corn starch, salt, tomato powder, nonfat dry milk, onion powder, sugar, rice flour, autolyzed yeast and dried yeast, natural butter flavor, natural flavor, garlic powder, citric acid, extractives of turmeric, annatto, and paprika, caramel clolor.

Contains milk ingredients.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: ¼ cup as pkgd. (30g)

1 cup prepared (285g)

Servings Per Container: 5

Amount Per Serving As Pkgd. Prepared

Calories: 160 430

Calories from fat: 10 120

Total fat: 1 g

Sat. fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 930 mg

Total Carb: 34 g

Dietary fiber: 2 g

Sugars: 5 g

Protein: 4 g