American Chop Suey

Um... delicious?! This is one of my dad's favorite dishes. What unbelievable slop! haha. But seriously, it sure is comforting.. and easy to make!

This recipe is for ~6 adults (we wanted leftovers)

First I got the pasta water boiling and used up some opened pasta boxes I had - orecchiette and elbows (~1 lb). I think most chop suey is made with elbows but I was just using what we had. Once that started I got some beef (~1 lb) going on a skillet. I kept breaking it up so it wouldn't get chunky. Once there was no more pink I poured out the fat and then added chopped vegetables. I used two stalks of celery, 1 tomato, 1/2 bell pepper, and 6 chopped hot cherry pepper slices (not whole peppers!). Within a few minutes I also added tomato sauce and some tomato paste (just eyeball it - like a true chef!). Once the pasta was cooked I mixed it, sprinkled some cheese - and voila!