Ground Beef Tacos

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Beef 90% lean or higher

1 Poblano Pepper, diced

1 Medium to large Red Onion, diced

1 Clove of garlic, diced fine

1 10oz Can of Tomatoes with Chilis (Ro-Tel)

1 oz Fajita Mix

1 Lime

1 oz Cilantro - shredded or cut fine (Optional)

When Serving:

Taco Shells

Shredded Cheese for tacos (Cheddar, Mexican, or Taco Blends)

Your other favorite taco toppings

Like any good food blog, I will start by going into a long winded explanation of how this recipe was a favorite of mine as I was growing up. Which is actually somewhat true, however, the original recipe used salsa instead of the can of tomatoes, and didn't have the other stuff. Regardless, I also won't explain the history of this more than to say I adapted this over time from my mother's recipe.

I like to use the leanest ground beef I can get reasonably for this (Which has been a challenge in recent years). The main reason is that you end up removing most of the fat after you cook the ground beef, so that added bit is just wasted.

I make my own fajita seasoning (I will post it sometime), but any mix will do that you like. You also can use taco seasoning. Just something you like. However, if you have issues with cilantro, then make sure your seasoning doesn't have cilantro in it.

I like to use the Cilantro and Lime Ro-Tel for this. If you don't have Ro-Tel, it is just "Tomatoes with Chilis" in the other brands. I just happen to like Ro-Tel best.

Other lazy notes: I will used pre-diced garlic and freeze-dried cilantro if I don't have fresh. Be careful using garlic powder since it is very very powerful.

Why I like this recipe:

Instead of greasy-wet ground beef tacos like from your favorite taco fast food place, the ground beef texture is less oozy, which I prefer. When I eat it, at least to me, it also doesn't need much else beyond the cheese to be tasty, the beef is really flavorful. Also, the end product freezes really really well, so its really easy to make a batch, have a meal, and freeze the rest for later. You also can do this in a single pan.

Instructions:

1. Dice the Onion and Pepper and garlic and set it aside.

2. In a large, high walled skillet, Brown the ground beef on medium-high heat with a little bit of oil, salt and ground pepper. Once its brown, put a couple layers of paper towels on a plate big enough to hold the ground beef, and dump the ground beef onto the paper towels. Spread it out as best you can, but you don't need to go nuts with this. Watch out that you didn't drip grease down the side of the pan, and if you did, wipe it off so you don't get a grease fire.

3. Leave the little bit of beef grease in the bottom of the pan. Now add a little more oil and sauté the peppers and onions together with salt and pepper. When they start getting soft and translucent, add the garlic in, and let it cook for another minute or two.

4. Add the ground beef back into, the paper towel should have soaked up most of the fat from it. Mix it in with the peppers and onions. Add the Tomatoes in as well. I usually add the liquid.

5. Zest and juice the lime into the mix, and add in the fajita seasoning and cilantro. Mix it all together.

6. Let this simmer for 10-15 minutes, mainly to try to simmer off the extra juices. The target here is it will be moist, but not oozy.

Serving

Get your favorite taco shell, I strongly prefer soft flour shells myself, but it works in hard and soft corn shells too. I will put a layer of shredded cheese, then a heaping layer of the meat mix, then a second layer of cheese. Add anything else you want can go on as well, but I don't think it needs it. Putting the cheese on the meat will help melt the cheese.

Reheating:

Defrost in the fridge overnight if you can.

Microwave for about a minute on high in a microwave safe bowl. Mix it around, check if it is heated through, and repeat with 30 seconds until it is hot.