What do you do with your ground beef?

     Anyone else out there wish someone would plan your meals for you? Along with writing the grocery list and matching it up with the best deals at the stores nearest you? I know there are programs out there that will do this for either free or a fee, but even with those, I still have to do some thinking. I'm talking about a magical friend who could read my mind and know exactly what everyone in our family wants to eat and needs to eat....don't want to throw healthy out the window!

    Well, until that happens, I will just have to continue thinking about what to serve for supper. And what to do with ground beef. Ever get tired of the same old ground beef go-to recipes? Tacos, meatloaf, spaghetti...

    I want to introduce you to Texas Hash. (FYI: I am by no means a great cook, creative cook or food photographer. I enjoy reading other peoples blogs and often marvel at how they are able to cook and take such amazing pictures of the the cooking process. That's not me! So just enjoy the recipe.)

    This was one of my husband's fav's that I had to learn when we first got married. To be honest, at first, I wasn't sold on it. But the more I make it, the more I like it. So I got the recipe from my mother-in-law but have since seen it in cookbooks and on the internet.

     The best part of this meal is that you can whip it up in the morning and when supper rolls around, just pop it in the oven...so therefore, no working in the kitchen around 4pm or so.

Texas Hash

1 pound ground beef

1 green pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced (you can also used dried onion flakes, about 1-2 Tbsp)

2 cups tomato juice

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 cup uncooked regular rice

Brown ground beef in a large skillet, adding diced peppers and onions toward the end of cooking. Drain any grease off the the ground beef mixture and return the ground beef mixture to low heat.

Add remaining ingredients to ground beef mixture. Stir to mix well and allow to simmer on low until it is heated through. Turn off burner and pour contents of skillet into 2 quart ungreased casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Bake covered for one hour.

*We serve it with extra rice to stretch the meal out a little bit.

**This recipe is very flexible. If you like a little more spice, add a teaspoon more of chili powder. If you are a lover of chunky tomatoes, add a small can of diced tomatoes to the 2 cups of tomato sauce. If you do this, I would increase the rice to 3/4 cup or even a whole cup so the casserole will not be soupy.

Enjoy!