W4DW- Mexican Hamburger Skillet

This week's What's For Dinner Wednesday comes to you from a Missouri farm mom.  She and I have been comparing notes on the drought effects in our areas and raising kids that are about the same age and enjoy showing cattle.  You can find her at H&K Farms on Facebook and her blog is called Hasekamps of Tulip.  I will let you know that I had to laugh when I read the beginning of her post-I didn't know I had fans that have stalked me.  :)  This recipe looks yummy and I am definitely going to see how my boys like it- as soon as I have time to make it to the grocery store.

Recently a new Facebook/blogging friend asked me to share a recipe for her weekly post ‘What’s for Dinner? Wednesday’ While I was excited to be asked to be guest blogger on her blog, which I feel very honored, as I am possibly one of her biggest fans. (Don’t tell her but I think I have stalked her blog back to its beginning!) I was also a little scared, let me elaborate.

Cooking is kinda my thing, along with ‘mom-ing’ and all that goes along with, sewing--I love to quilt, helping my hubby on our farm, agvocating on social media and much more. I really love to cook food and see people enjoy it. Whether its only my household, or a hay crew, the football team, or people I don’t even know at the State Fair. Mostly being a stay at home mom, a lot of days you don’t see the rewards of your work. Cooking a meal and watching it be devoured and enjoyed is one tangible thing that I do that I truly love.

So obviously the actual cooking wasn’t the scary part. I have no secret recipes, that wasn’t it. The scary part of her request was that I would have to tell you all in blog land EXACTLY what I do, step by step with amounts, like you know---a RECIPE! Yikes! That’s a scary word to me. Now when I bake, I always follow the recipe as exactly as possibly, because I have learned, yes the hard way, that it’s a must. But not so much with regular ol’ day in day out cooking. Admission----I don’t measure!

  I thought several days about what to fix. Something simple or elaborate? There was one for sure—it would be beef. We raise Angus cattle on our farm. We regularly have our own cattle butchered for our own freezer and sell some to friends and neighbors. When we have our cattle processed, we get the hamburger done in a roughly 90% lean product. I am happy to see that now consumers in grocery stores have actually 93% lean ground beef. Such a quick and easy product to cook with, our very own ‘fast food’.

I decided tonight's supper of ‘Mexican Hamburger’ skillet would be the recipe I would share. The ingredients include:

• 1.5 pounds ground beef 
• one can of black beans 
• package of ‘taco rice’ prepared 
• salsa (using my own right now, since I have some canned) 
• grated cheddar cheese 

1. So here’s how it comes together, prepare the taco rice as directed. 
2. Brown ground beef, drain if necessary. (90%+ lean users probably won’t have to) 
3. Add rice, beans and SOME salsa (if I had to say, mine is ‘medium’ heat-wise and I probably added 2/3 cup) 
4. Simmer long enough to heat all ingredients. 
5. Add grated cheese and heat just long enough to melt the cheese. (probably ½ to ¾ Cup) 

Now we serve this with other Mexican toppings: tonight it included leftover nacho chips, sour cream and a couple of handfuls of my cherry tomatoes from the garden. We have also had it in taco shells, in tortillas or just like the store ‘helper’ boxes served on the plate. Tonight we enjoyed it with cantaloupe and watermelon.

Kids had some ice cream after. No worries about extra calories here, my two oldest sons sat down to supper after football practice. When the farmer, myself and the shorties got done, the boys cleaned out every bowl. So guess you could say the above recipe serves 6.

With having all sorts of cuts of beef available to me, I have broadened my cooking range over the years. But it does always seem that there is generally an abundance of ground beef in the freezer. It’s such a great ‘go-to’ option. I work part-time, substitute teaching at school. So when the call came this morning to teach my visions of sharing with you all the ‘goodies’ I add to my roast, were out the door. The call came while the Farmer and I were en route to take a calf to the locker to be processed, by the time I returned home, there was basically enough time to change clothes and pack a quick lunch. Many women deal with that scenario everyday, so having a stash of quick and healthy family dinners is such a blessing to you and your kids. My kids are not big fans of fast food, which I am thankful for, gives me a little pride when they say, ‘Mom can’t you just fix us something GOOD when we get home’ I always reply, ‘YES I CAN!’

Be sure to go check out Kathy's Facebook page and blog and tell her A Kansas Farm Mom sent you.  Thank you so much for sharing!
-A Kansas Farm Mom 


Shared on the following blogs:

• Walking on Sunshine's Foodie Friends Friday
• Melt in Your Mouth Monday Recipe Blog Hop