What's for Dinner?: One Pan Tacos

So it's a Friday night and I cooked. Who knew?

My husband came home from work and wanted to go out for Mexican. Now, I love Mexican. Could eat it every day of the week love Mexican. But tonight, I couldn't pull myself off the couch to go. So we compromised. I had a pound of ground beef in the fridge that I needed to use, my husband still wanted Mexican, so I made One Pan Tacos.

Start with a pound of ground beef. I seasoned it with cumin and cooked it over medium-high heat until it was almost done all the way through, but not quite. To that I added a can of unseasoned black beans, drained, and a can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained.

Continue cooking that over medium-high heat. It's going to boil, which I'm ok with because you want the flavors that the juices of everything add to the pan, but you don't necessarily want all the additional liquid.

Usually at this point I would add in some frozen corn, but I didn't have any in the freezer. What did I have? A bag of Bird's-Eye Tri Color Pepper and Onion mix. Perfect! I added this to the pan and cooked for approximately an additional 5 minutes. After that turn the heat down to medium-low heat and cook for another 5 minutes.

After that, do with it whatever your little heart desires. I made some Spanish rice with it, so I had it as a burrito bowl, garnishing with diced tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, tortilla strips and a squeeze of lime. My husband started out with a soft corn tortilla taco, but ended up warming up the corn tortillas on the stove until they crisped up and had them as tostadas. You could also do nachos if you want - the meat mixture is perfect for anything!

All in all, not bad for a Friday night that I didn't have a plan for dinner!

One Pan Tacos

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef

• 1 teaspoon cumin or more, to taste

• 1 can unseasoned black beans, drained

• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (I used fire roasted because it's the first thing I grabbed)

• 1 14 ounce bag of frozen Bird's-Eye Tri Color Pepper and Onion blend or 1 cup of frozen corn

• Chipotles in Adobo Sauce, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Add 1 pound of ground beef and 1 teaspoon cumin (more if you like your meat really seasoned). Cook until the ground beef is browned, but not cooked all the way through.

3. Add black beans, frozen pepper blend and diced tomatoes. Continue cooking over medium-high heat. The mixture will boil, but that's ok, you want most of the liquid to evaporate. Cook for approximately 5 minutes.

4. Turn the heat to medium-low and let simmer for an additional 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has cooked off.

5. Serve with tortillas, tortilla chips, Spanish rice and any additional toppings you want.

#beef #Mexican #onepot