Texas Skillet Dinner for Recipe Friday

Ingredients

1.25 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 or 2 red, yellow, or orange sweet peppers, chopped
1 cup white or brown rice
1 can ready cut tomatoes
Water as called for on rice package
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Marjoram
1 tsp Basil
chili powder*
4 – 6 drops Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can kidney or black beans (or one of each for a crowd)
1 can corn
1 small can sliced black olives (optional)

Grated cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend)
Sour cream
Tortilla chips

Directions

Fry hamburger in a large skillet (at least 16″). Remove grease. Add onions and peppers and saute for 5 minutes. (Note: You can omit the peppers if you don’t have any on hand, but it’s not quite as good). Stir in rice, tomatoes, and water. Add spices and stir. Rinse the beans. Layer beans, corn, and olives on top of the meat and rice mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for the time indicated on the rice package. When the water is mostly absorbed, stir everything together and let cook another 3 or 4 minutes. Serve topped with cheese and sour cream, and with tortilla chips on the side.

*Note regarding the chili powder: I use both regular chile powder and some chipotle chile powder that I have in my spice cupboard. How much you put in depends on how hot you want the dish to be. I never measure it, but I would estimate that I put in about 1 tsp of the chipotle and almost a tbsp of the other chile powder.