Here is a pretty easy traditional Hungarian Beef Goulash recipe.
It does sound like the OP has probably had only the Americanized version of ghoulash, which is kind of similar to hamburger helper. Hopefully she can try one of our more traditional recipes and add noodles if she likes.
This German Beef Goulash recipe actually does have noodles in it.
Here is a recipe for home made Beef, Tomato Sauce and Macaroni that sounds more like what the OP is describing (this sounds pretty tasty and doesn’t involve any corn starch thickeners).
And here is a recipe that is called Alpine Beef Goulash with Noodles that sounds like a cross between traditional goulash and beef stroganoff (it has tomato sauce, which stroganoff does not).