African Chow Mien

(PS. Im sorry, this was night time photography)

I have no idea what makes this dish "African" or what African food tastes like or if they even eat chow mien in Africa. But thats what this dish is called so thats just the way it is.
Basically this is stirfry but with hanburger and cans of condensed soup. Its comfort food in its finest. I love love loved it.

Back in...September I think it was, my sisters and cousins and friend ( ie, my wedding party) threw a hugeee and amazing bridal shower for me. It was great. They made SO much food...like it was insane. They decided that the theme would be...Pioneer Woman. Because I read her site everyday. So naturally all of the food was made from pioneer woman recipes. We had pizza, pasta, salad, stuffed potatoes. I don't even remember it all. but it was delicious. AND my dear bridal party also spent hours on the Pioneer woman website finding funny quotes from her blog and copy and pasting them to a word document. Then they made them look pretty and printed them all out and used them as place cards. I wish I had taken pictures but it was such a surprise and I was so overwhelmed so I didn't take a single picture. I don't know it anybody did. Thats a shame. ( I am so so so so so bad at taking picture of momentous events like that. I always forget. Hence my new years resolution to take more pictures.) But it was a great night. Thank-you bridal party :)
Anyways, my whole point of that long story was to tell you how I acquired this recipe. In the invitations my sisters sent for this fabulous party, they included a recipe card for my guests to write a good recipe on that I might want to cook. That was so so so great because I can bake and make desserts till the cows come home, but dinner ideas are generally a little more tricky. It could be because my husband prefers to eat zero veggies and lots of : a) Bacon, b) Steak, c) Potatoes, d) Grilled Cheese sandwiches, e) Mini Pizzas ( like the McCain frozen ones..yucky) . He will eat anything I make though...mostly. Carrots are an absolute no go. He even picks them out of soup!
Anyways, a goood friend of mine, Kristi, wrote this recipe on my card. I think it was her mom's recipe. And then the other night I was so so so so so hungry (because I generally forget to feed myself if Gary isn't home)  and I was grummmpyyy and tired and really wanted some sort of comfort food. I was searching food blogs with no success and we have decided to not eat out for a while or order in. So we were going to starve or Gary was going to whip out the grill to make some gilled cheese sandwiches. I did not want to eat a grilled cheese sandwich. Then I remembered back in the day when I didn't rely on food blogs for recipe ideas and flipped open my recipe box. Tada! Great dinner ideas, that I know I like and that I know how to make. YAY. I found Kristi's recipe card and then jumped in car and went to the store to grab some chicken soup and some chow mien noodles. The evening just went up from there.

This is super easy! and yummy and warm and creamy and the prefect thing when you just want to lay on the couch and watch a movie or veg and read a book. If you keep chow mien noodles on hand, you probably have almost everything to make this for dinner tonight.
I served this with rice and a spinach salad ( with orange pieces, crasins and balsamic dressing) and french bread broiled with butter and some Parmesan cheese. It was delish and fast and yummy.

I say yummy waaayyy too much.

I have lots to say today, I am sorry. I am home alone this morning. I called my husband but he was busy...apparently he had to work or something...
Yesterday I talked so much, my jaw was sore when I went to bed. For real.

I just about posted this recipe without actually including the recipe. Haha.

African Chow Mien

1 lb Ground Beef/Hamburger Meat
1 medium Onion
2-3 Celery stalks
1 cup mushrooms ( or 1 cup or mushrooms)
1 tablespoon oil

1 can Condensed Mushroom Soup (284ml, 10 oz)
1 can Chicken Noodle Soup ( 284ml. 10 oz)
1-2 tablespoons Soya Sauce
1/2 bag Chow Mein Noodles. ( My bag was 397grams and I used about 1/2)
Salt and Pepper to taste

1) Fry up the first 5 ingredients in a large frying pan. Cook until meat is no longer pink and onions and celery are soft and opaque.
2. Add soups, soya sauce and salt and pepper. Mix in Chow Mien noodles. Cook till noodles are soft. ( I put a lid on my fry pan and that helped it cook faster.)
3. Serve over rice. (we did that the first night but the left overs we are without rice and they were just as good!)