10 Simple Dinners (Made with a Pack of Ground Beef!)

Ten Simple Dinners, and all of them made from scratch with a one-pound pack of ground beef!

Ten Easy Dinner Ideas & Recipes to Inspire You

In a cooking slump and needing some new ideas for what to cook for dinner? I’ve been there. It can be tough to come up with homemade dinners, especially if you cook at home almost every day of the week like we do.

And so, we made a list of meal ideas!

These are simple, homemade from scratch, budget-friendly, Mennonite style dinners that we love and think you will too. At the very least, we hope to give you some dinner inspiration!

serving of million dollar spaghetti on a plate

1. Million Dollar Spaghetti

First up, Million Dollar Spaghetti. It’s basically just a creamier, richer version of classic spaghetti with a red sauce. (Excuse the pun!) Add some extra tastiness with some pepperoni! You only need one large skillet to make this (yay, not as many dirty dishes to deal with!) and it’s delicious served with a simple garden side salad.

GO to the Million Dollar Spaghetti Recipe

2. Simple Taco Soup

Change up your menu this taco Tuesday by serving taco soup instead of traditional tacos! This soup is perfect for those chilly weeknights during the colder months of the year, but to be honest, I love soup any time of the year. You can totally customize this soup to your liking by adding any and all of your favorite taco toppings!

GO to the Simple Taco Soup Recipe

serving of tater tot casserole on a plate

3. Tater Tot Casserole

This one’s a classic. Tater Tot casserole features a creamy ground beef mixture, beans (and you can add any more veggies you wish!) cheese, then it’s topped with tater tots and baked. The tater tots are my favorite part – can’t have too many of those! It’s simple, quick and easy, perfect for busy seasons.

GO to the Tater Tot Casserole Recipe

a serving of the easiest crockpot lasagna

4. Homemade Lasagna (in the crockpot!)

Ok, now for a crockpot dinner. I personally love when I get around to making a crockpot meal; I can go about my day knowing that supper is already taken care of! Layer everything in the crockpot, set it and forget it – it’s a delicious meal with minimal effort!

GO to the Crockpot Lasagna Recipe

5. The Easiest Spaghetti

Spaghetti like this is one of my main go-to’s when I don’t know what to make for supper. It’s so easy and simple I can make it by heart and it’s always amazing! Literally, just cook the spaghetti, brown the ground beef, and toss with your favorite kind of flavored tomato sauce. Add parmesan or asiago cheese if you have it, but no worries if you don’t! It’s delicious just the way it is!

GO to the Spaghetti Recipe

6. Cheeseburger Soup

Another comforting soup, featuring ground beef, perfect for those winter dinners. It’s creamy, cheesy, and flavorful and definitely one of my top five soups!

GO to the Cheeseburger Soup Recipe

easy ground beef pepperoni pizza casserole fresh out of the oven

7. Pizza Casserole

Pizza, except it’s a casserole! Forget the homemade pizza crust and use pasta instead; then add any and all of your favorite pizza toppings!

GO to the Pizza Casserole Recipe

taco potato haystack casserole on a white and black plate

8. Potato Haystack Casserole

Potato Haystack Casserole is basically cheesy potatoes and taco meat together; I like to serve it with taco toppings such as shredded lettuce, salsa or diced tomato, etc. It’s the perfect comfort dinner any time of the year!

GO to the Potato Haystack Casserole Recipe

9. Creamy Beef & Mac

This is a one pot, creamy macaroni, corn and ground beef dinner, also known as Dairy Casserole. Despite its homely appearance, it’s another delicious comfort meal! Fun fact, it’s my husband’s favorite dinner and I can’t make it often enough for him!

GO to the Creamy Beef & Mac Recipe

10. Potato Chili Cheese Haystacks

Lastly, we’ve got haystacks. Mashed potatoes or cooked rice on the bottom, chili, lettuce, tomato and any other salad toppings on top then drizzled in cheese sauce. MMM, my favorite!

GO to the Haystacks Recipe

Hamburger Gravy

Annnnd, here’s a bonus one! Just for fun, I thought I’d add it since it’s truly a Mennonite classic – hamburger gravy. Serve it on top of mashed potatoes with a side of green beans and you have a simple and delicious meal!

GO to the Hamburger Gravy Recipe

There you have it! Ten simple Mennonite recipes for comforting and tasty dinners.

Have you tried any of these 10 simple dinners?

We want to know! Did you try any of our recipes? Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried any of these recipes or what your favorite go-to dinner is.

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Even more Mennonite recipes right this way ➡️

As always…

If you made it this far, (first of all, congratulations!) and thank you, thank you, thank you, for checking out our list of dinners. We appreciate it!

’til next time, we love you and we’ll be praying for you,

-Julie