Hamburger Zucchini Comfort Food

Travis took the kids to the park while I made supper tonight, so I had a bit more brainpower available to be creative.  I came up with this really yummy stew, I guess you'd call it.  I think you could thin it out for soup, but it was really good as almost a gravy over half a batch of this polenta.  The girls hated the polenta, though, so next time I would serve it over mashed potatoes.  With crispy sweet pickles, if you have them.  :)  Mmmmm!!!

And in case you haven't picked up on the trend, dinnertime at my house is an adventure in finding different ways to serve meat, beans, and potatoes, while hiding as many nutritious veggies as I can as tiny bits in a tasty sauce.  Bonus points for using up leftover ingredients from previous meals, but docked points for making it too creamy for dear hubby.

Hamburger Zucchini Stew

1 lb ground beef

1 large zucchini

½ green pepper, diced

½ tsp. onion flakes

½ tsp. garlic powder

Salt and pepper

½ tsp. dried basil

½ can of chicken broth

1 can of white (great northern) beans

½ can of mushroms

Brown the ground beef, and chop up the zucchini into bite-sized cubes.  Add the veggies and seasonings to browned beef, and use the broth to scrape up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan.  Add the beans and mushrooms, and simmer until ready to serve.