Forget Hamburger Helper: 8 Ways To Improve Ground Beef

Having a variety of weeknight meals in your arsenal is important. And after you have made chicken and pasta every which way, it's time to turn to beef — after all, it is what's for dinner. While filet mignon and other cuts of steak can be expensive, ground beef is inexpensive, delicious, and can be used in a variety of different recipes.

Click here to see the Forget Hamburger Helper: 8 Ways to Improve Ground Beef (Slideshow)

Next time you're looking for quick and easy weeknight meals, think of ground beef, which is a hearty ingredient that cooks in minutes. With so many possibilities for ground beef, this week we put the Culinary Content Network and our staff to the test to come up with tasty ground beef recipes that are anything but boring. Here are some of the highlights:

• Milisa Armstrong from Miss in the Kitchen shares with us an easy taco salad recipe complete with salsa ranch dressing. Armstrong is a member of The Culinary Content Network.

• Kate Dean of I Heart Eating contributed her recipe for Crock-Pot chili pie with Frito chips added on top for extra crunch. Dean is a member of The Culinary Content Network.

• The winner this week is Carly Goldsmith, the copy editor at The Daily Meal. Carly's baked ziti with ground beef recipe is hearty, simple, and perfect for a cold night.

All of the recipes featured can be made at home for about $30 or less, excluding the cost of small amounts of basic ingredients such as butter, oil, flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and other dried herbs and spices.

Emily Jacobs is the Recipe editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyRecipes.