Beef Skillet Rice

The first place my husband and I lived together was in Hawaii.  I know, shame, isn't it?  When I moved in with him he'd been a bachelor for a couple years and had mastered the art of cooking a mean pan of hamburger helper.  I was a vegetarian.  We were quite the combination.  I began eating meat again because it was easier to prepare one meal instead of two.

Rice was not something I previously ate much of, and Jay hadn't either until he'd moved to Hawaii.  I became a fan of rice immediately and tried to find different ways to incorporate it as the starch in our meals.  In an effort to satisfy Jay's hamburger helper and rice-a-roni cravings coupled with my desire to not eat dinner from a box, I created Beef Skillet Rice.  We've been eating it ever since.

It's an easy dish to get creative with.  Use ground turkey instead of ground beef.  Add a little loose sausage in with the beef and/or turkey.  Add an adobe chili, chopped up, and some cilantro thrown in at the end.  It all works.

Beef Skillet Rice
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium green or red pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T chili powder
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1/2 c. chicken or vegetable broth
2 c. cooked rice
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, asiago, etc.)

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the beef, onion and pepper until the meat is no longer pink.  Drain off any fat that has accumulated.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in the garlic clove and chili powder and cook just until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and beef broth.  Simmer, uncovered, until the flavors blend about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat.  Stir in the cooked rice, then the sour cream and cheese.  Serve.

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