Last night’s dinner….Hamburger Rice Skillet Dinner

Last night’s dinner reminded me of something my mom used to make all the time for us when I was growing up.   It was total comfort food and brought back some fun memories 🙂   Last night’s dinner was supposed to be something very different…..I had originally planned on making smothered meatballs over steamed brown rice, but then discovered that M had used all of my eggs to make breakfast so I decided to make a taco inspired hamburger rice skillet dinner.   Think hamburger helper but MUCH tastier, MUCH MUCH healthier, and completely homemade.   SO easy that I got it started and then left the finishing touches up to my 16 year old daughter while I ran an errand with D.   I’m sorry that I didn’t get any pictures of it, but it wasn’t very pretty…..just VERY tasty and very comforting 🙂

Here’s the recipe 🙂

Taco Hamburger Rice Skillet Dinner

Serves 8

• 1 1/2 pounds extra lean ground beef
• 2 cup long grain brown rice
• 1 cup diced onion (1 whole sweet onion, diced finely)
• 1 cup diced red bell pepper (I used several of the mini peppers, but this is equal to 1 large pepper)
• 29 oz can diced tomatoes
• enough beef broth added to the tomatoes to equal 5 cups
• 1 tbsp. ground cumin
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt (to taste)
• 6-8 oz. finely grated 2% fat cheddar cheese

In a 10″ non-stick skillet soften peppers and onions over medium high heat (adding a small amount of water to prevent sticking if necessary).  Once the peppers and onions are softened, add ground beef and cook until no longer pink.  Add rice, tomatoes, beef broth, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, turn down to low and cover with tight fitting lid.   Let simmer for 20 minutes, quickly stir to check moisture levels and make sure the rice isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Cover again tightly and cook for another 20 minutes or until rice has absorbed all of the liquid (If the rice is still a little crunchy, add more water, cover and let cook another 10 minutes).   Once rice is completely cooked, sprinkle with cheese and let stand for 5 minutes until cheese melts completely.   Serve and enjoy!