Mexican Skillet Supper - 6 to 10 Smart Points

This was one of my quick, go-to meals when my son was at home.  Start to finish, you can have it on the table in less than 30 minutes.  Add a salad or side vegetable and some tortilla chips and you have a hearty meal.

Since there's only two of us now to cook for, I've cut the ingredients down by one half.  I always made it with a full pound of ground beef and used the entire can full of Ranch Style beans and Spanish Rice. Now, when I buy ground beef, I package it in freezer containers and put 10 to 12 oz. in each package.  12 oz. is plenty for this recipe and 8-10 ounces would work just fine too.

Canned Spanish Rice is getting hard to find!  Dollar General store carries it now so that's where I pick it up. I combine the rice and beans in a bowl, use half and freeze the other half to use later. 

This is also good leftover the next day.

The photo was taken before the cheese topping was added.

MEXICAN SKILLET SUPPER

10 Smart Points per serving with ground beef

6 Smart Points per serving with ground chicken

Makes 4 servings

12 oz. lean ground beef

½ cup diced onion

½ can Spanish Rice

½ can Ranch Style beans

Paprika

Garlic powder

Oregano

Chili powder

1 oz. grated cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef and onions.  Add the rice, beans and spices.  Cover and simmer 5-10 minutes.

I've made this for so long that I don't measure the spices used.  Probably 1 1/2 tsp of paprika, 1/2 tsp. of oregano, 2 tsp. chili powder and a dash of garlic powder.  Go lightly on the spices, let it cook a couple of minutes, taste and add more if desired.

You can top it with extra cheese, sour cream, diced tomatoes and cilantro to change it up.  Just add the points!

I've also made this with ground chicken.  Using ground Smart Chicken, you can lower the points for the meat to only 9 Smart Points.

You can mix up a corn bread batter, pour it over the top of the cooked ingredients and bake until the bread topping is nice and brown too.  Just add the points!

Smart Points

Beef                24

Rice                 4.5

Beans              6

Cheese             4

I calculated the points for the ingredients used.  If you use reduced fat cheese you can save a few points.  We just prefer regular cheese.