Zippy Ground Beef Skillet

This recipe to me is the epitome of what I wish Hamburger Helper would taste like. Granted, I'm happy to say I made this without using any canned produce. The tomatoes have been plentiful on our sole tomato plant this week. It was amazingly fresh and lighter than I was expecting. The sauce didn't thicken after cooling as much as I would have liked, but next time I'll just add a little more cornstarch.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes from my lone tomato plant!

• 2 cups uncooked small tube pasta 
• 1 pound lean ground beef 
• 3/4 cup onion, diced   
• 3/4 cup green bell pepper, diced   (I actually used Red)
• 1 (28 ounce) can or 3 1/2 cups diced tomatoes, undrained 
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced - wear gloves 
• 1 tablespoon honey 
• 2 teaspoons chili powder 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 cups reduced fat sour cream
• 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp cold water (for sauce thickening if needed)

Directions:

1. Start water to boil for pasta.

   

   Add Tomato

2. Dice onion, green bell pepper, & jalapeno.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions. 
4. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, cook the beef, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. 
5. Add the tomatoes, jalapenos, honey, chili powder and salt. 
6. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low; cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
7. Drain pasta; add to beef mixture. 
8. Add sour cream. 
9. Cook and stir until heated through (do not boil).

Courtesy of Jessy at Tricks Chef's

After simmering for 10 minutes

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Inside-Out Burgers

Good ole' hamburgers were on the menu last night and I decided to put a delicious twist my aunt introduced me to a few years ago - put the cheese on the inside. If you haven't experienced this before, I so recommend you try this the next time you throw hamburgers on the grill (or pan fry if that's your cup of tea). If it sounds hard to you - trust me it's not.

1. Season your meat however you like to fix it. I prefer mine mixed with a little minced garlic (about a 1/4 tsp per 1/2 lb of meat) and sweet & spicy steak sauce (about 1 tsp per 1/2 lb of meat).
2. If you are using a package of ground meat (versus the preformed patties), pull out however much you would consider a patty (normally 1/4-1/2 lb meat). 
3. Take this and divide it in half. Take the 1st half and form a patty to the diameter you desire for the whole burger (it will be 1/2 the thickness of your finished product). 
4. Place the cheese and any other goodies you want (bacon, onion, etc.) in the middle of your patty - leave about 1/2 inch border. 
5. Take the 2nd half of your meat and form a 2nd patty to match. 
6. Place the 2nd half on top of the 1st half. 
7. Press the patties together and work the corners together by hand to form a good seal. 
8. I finish seasoning my meat with either a dusting of seasoned salt and pepper or Mrs Dash and pepper before throwing them on the grill. 
9. Cook until done - try to keep the flipping to a minimum to decrease the chance of your burger falling apart. 

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