~ The Dish: Spicy Pasta Shells & Ground Beef

Spicy Pasta Shells & Ground Beef

If you asked me two years if I liked cooking, I would have laughed in your face. My kitchen was always stocked with something frozen, something canned or something that took less than fifteen minutes to prepare. My kids were not a fan of it at all! Fast forward two years and I still don’t love to cook, but I’ve managed to find ways to enjoy it when I do have to cook a full blown meal, and by full blown I mean I will need more than one pot to cook! It’s an improvement, trust me.

Anyway, since I do cook four to five times a week, I’m constantly finding myself looking for ways to improve easy dishes… Last night the only meat I had defrosted was ground beef. Normally I would make with spaghetti and store bought sauce but because I find myself cooking more often I’m also noticing a need for change. I decided to head to Wal-Mart and buy ingredients to play around with and ended up buying some red pepper, green pepper and even some yellow pepper and a new bottle of Cholula sauce! I also decided that instead of using my usual Ragu sauce I used Hunt’s basil and oregano sauce and although it’s still pasta and ground beef the taste is very different.

The Dish: Spicy Pasta Shells & Ground Beef

I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself! All it took was a few dollars to get myself an updated version of spaghetti and ground beef and it only took me about 30 minutes to cook. Stuck on what to cook tonight? Try out my little twist below! **Recipe is four servings

Ingredients:

1 pound of medium shell pasta (I use Barilla but any brand can work)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped, about 1 1/2 cups
1 green bell pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1 red pepper **I slice and use half of each
1 1/2 to 2 pounds ground beef, lean, about 90% – 93%
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cans of Hunts oregano, basil & garlic
cholula sauce **I use about 4-5 tablespoons
3 tablespoons of Sazon Ranchero
1 teaspoon sugar to kill a little of the acidity
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt, to taste

Directions:

**Cook the shells following the package directions. Drain in a colander and rinse under cool water and then toss it in a few drop of olive oil so they don’t stick together.

In a large deep skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and peppers. Cook, stirring, until onion is softened and edges are lightly browned. Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Add the garlic powder and stir for 1 to 2 minutes longer. Stir in Sazon Ranchero and half a can of the tomato sauce, sugar, and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the sauce mixture begins to boil. Taste and add salt and cholula sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes.