Yes, Another Casserole!

Last night's dinner was quite simple and yummy. I made a sort of Italian cheeseburger casserole with corn, Italian bread and salad on the side. It's based on a recipe called "The" Casserole in the "Church Socials" cookbook Pie got me for Christmas. However, the cookbook version is considerably longer and the extra time and effort didn't make sense to me. J had to arise at 4 this morning to hit the road for Chicago, so we needed dinner on the table fairly early. So, I just played around and found that a significantly shorter cooking time with an upped oven temp turned out just fine. I also couldn't resist using three times the garlic recommended. This is my adaptation:

1 & 1/2 lb. burger
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
32 oz. diced tomatoes, drained
12 oz. tomato paste
A good shaking of oregano
Pepper
Garlic salt
16 oz. macaroni, cooked & drained
16 oz. American cheese (the sliced kind...I got the deli sort that isn't individually wrapped)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brown burger with onion and garlic. Drain. Mix tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano and pepper into the macaroni. If you have a vegan dining with you, set aside a portion of the mixture and mix it with soy crumbles (I used Morningstar Farms), put in a small baking dish and top with soy cheese, if you have found a kind that melts well. I used some that seemed to melt well but quickly hardened into yuckiness. Add the burger to the macaroni mixture. Put half in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Top with a layer of cheese slices. Repeat. Bake 15-20 minutes, until cheese is all melty and casserole is heated through. The vegan one can go in for the same amount of time.