{"id":441,"date":"2025-10-31T14:36:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=441"},"modified":"2025-10-31T14:36:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:36:15","slug":"my-mother-in-laws-most-requested-recipe-comes-from-a-vintage-charity-cookbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=441","title":{"rendered":"My Mother-In-Law\u2019s Most-Requested Recipe Comes From a Vintage Charity Cookbook"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When my husband and I started dating more than 20 years ago, we\u2019d often travel to Pennsylvania to spend time with his family. Almost every time we visited, my now mother-in-law would make burger bundles for dinner. These delicious little meatloaf-style patties, filled with stuffing and topped with mushroom gravy, are deeply embedded in my memories of those early years of dating, and subsequently, marriage.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

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What Are Burger Bundles? <\/span> <\/h2>\n

Throughout the years, my mother-in-law continued to serve burger bundles to us in her home and eventually made them in my own kitchen\u2014at my husband\u2019s request\u2014when visiting us at our home in Florida. Because the dish relies on canned condensed soup and boxed stuffing, I assumed it was a recipe my mother-in-law picked up from a recipe on a label.\n<\/p>\n

However, she told me her mother made burger bundles for her and her siblings when they were kids, and the recipe came from a 1972 charity cookbook produced by the Pennsylvania State Grange<\/a>, a community service organization. \u201cMommy made [burger bundles],\u201d my mother-in-law said. \u201cThey were [my brother\u2019s] favorite. She got the recipe from the Grange cookbook.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

My mother-in-law with her burger bundles. PHOTO: Terri Peters.<\/span>
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As best as I can tell, the recipe for burger bundles first appeared in a “Better Homes and Gardens” cookbook called “Jiffy Cooking,” a collection of menus for entertaining published in 1967. The official menu<\/a> for burger bundles included mashed potatoes, green beans, and a retro dessert salad, and recommended drinks such as coffee and milk be served alongside the dish.\n<\/p>\n

When she became a mom to three hungry boys, my mother-in-law resurrected the dish from her own childhood dinner table. \u201cIt was a quick, tasty meal,\u201d she said. \u201cMy boys always liked it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How to Make Burger Bundles <\/span> <\/h2>\n

Until recently, I never attempted to make burger bundles in my own kitchen because the recipe always felt like something special my mother-in-law made for us. When I did, though, I realized it\u2019s surprisingly easy.\n<\/p>\n

After making some stovetop stuffing and combining the ground beef and milk, I divided the meat mixture into six equal parts and flattened each \u201cburger\u201d like a pancake. The stuffing goes right in the middle of each flattened burger, then the meat gets wrapped around the stuffing and sealed\u2014like a cross between meatloaf and a stuffed meatball.\n<\/p>\n

Making burger bundles in my home kitchen. PHOTO: TERRI PETERS.<\/span>
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The real magic of the burger bundle is its gravy-like sauce, made from condensed cream of mushroom soup, milk, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. This creamy sauce is poured over the burger bundles in a baking dish and the whole thing cooks slowly in the oven at 350 degrees F for two hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget the creamy mashed potatoes and a vegetable everyone likes,\u201d my mother-in-law told me. \u201cBut, is there such a thing?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What Makes Burger Bundles Delicious? <\/span> <\/h2>\n

My family\u2019s version of burger bundles are served with a tasty, creamy mushroom gravy. But since the recipe calls for any type of condensed soup, the possibilities are endless. I could see making this recipe with condensed broccoli and cheese soup or even cream of chicken. No matter what kind of soup you throw into the mix, the result will be a creamy gravy that\u2019s delicious both on top of each burger bundle and on the mashed potatoes you really should serve the dish with.\n<\/p>\n

Burger bundles are best served with mashed potatoes and other homestyle sides. PHOTO: TERRI PETERS.<\/span>
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The tried-and-true meatloaf-like ground beef mixture wrapped around boxed stuffing makes the dish savory and comforting. We paired our burger bundles with mashed potatoes and some oven-roasted green beans\u2014a perfect combination.<\/p>\n

Now that I know the full origin story of burger bundles, it will absolutely go into the dinner rotation at our own kitchen table. And it\u2019s so easy to make that I won\u2019t always have to wait for my husband\u2019s mom to make the meal for us. Although, everything tastes better when mom makes it, so her version will always be a special treat.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My Mother-in-Law\u2019s Burger Bundles Recipe <\/span> <\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Ingredients <\/span> <\/h2>\n
    \n
  • 1 pound of ground beef<\/li>\n
  • 1 \u2153 cup milk<\/li>\n
  • A few servings of cooked stovetop chicken-flavored stuffing<\/li>\n
  • 1 10.5-ounce can of creamy condensed soup\u00a0 (such as cream of mushroom or broccoli cheese)<\/li>\n
  • 2 tablespoons of ketchup<\/li>\n
  • 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Directions <\/span> <\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Combine ground beef and \u2153 cup of milk in a mixing bowl.<\/li>\n
    2. Divide ground beef mixture into six even pieces and flatten each into a pancake shape. Form stuffing into balls and place in the center of each burger. Fold the ground beef around the stuffing until it resembles a baseball and seal the stuffing into the center of the burger bundle.<\/li>\n
    3. Place the burger bundles in a 9X13-inch baking dish. Combine 1 cup of milk, the can of soup, ketchup, and worcestershire sauce in a mixing bowl or large measuring cup. Pour the soup mixture over top of the burger bundles. Bake for 1 \u00bd to 2 hours at 350 degrees F.\u00a0<\/li>\n
    4. Serve with mashed potatoes and a vegetable of your choice.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n


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      When my husband and I started dating more than 20 years ago, we\u2019d often travel to Pennsylvania to spend time with his family. Almost every time we visited, my now mother-in-law would make burger bundles for dinner. These delicious little meatloaf-style patties, filled with stuffing and topped with mushroom gravy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kitchen-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}