What's in My Kitchen on a Friday Night?

I've been trying to focus on being more creative with meals such as finding uses for the odds and ends in the kitchen. By odds and ends I mean the items that I bought at some point or other and forgot about it in the pantry, the fresh stuff I buy once or twice a week, and everything in between.

I've also been getting ideas from the food magazines I have become addicted to, and have tried a couple GREAT recipes, but that is different than this. I created this recipe by looking at what I had available and smashing my ideas in with the recipe found on a can of pinto beans.

Recipe on pinto beans:

• Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium saucepan. Add 1 cup chopped onions and 1/2 cup chopped red bell peppers. Saute about 2-3 minutes or until onions are softened. 
• Stir in one 15 oz can un-drained pinto beans, one 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles, and one 1.25 oz packet fajita seasoning. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve with a slotted spoon. 

What I did:

• Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil olive oil in a medium saucepan.
• Add 1 cup chopped onions. Move the onions to the outside edges of the pan.
• Brown 1 lb ground beef in the center of the pan, breaking it up.
• Add 1/2 cup chopped red bell peppers 1 cup mini sweet bell peppers, sliced. 
• Stir in one 15 oz can un-drained pinto beans, one 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles 2 sliced fresh tomatoes and diced green chiles to taste (approx. half of a 4 oz can is enough for me!), and one 1.25 oz packet fajita seasoning 1/4 cup taco seasoning. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve with a slotted spoon on flour tortillas with shredded cheese, guacamole (mashed avacado, garlic, salt), and sour cream. 

In my humble opinion, dinner turned out great! Just enough kick for me without being overwhelmingly spicy and a great mix of flavors. It was pretty easy to put together and would be easy to grab the ingredients in a hurry at the grocery store. 

I'm calling it "The Un-Fajita Madness"

You can find a downloadable, printable recipe HERE.

Brb.peaches