Peppers 'n' Potatoes Beef Skillet Supper

Last night for dinner we tried a new recipe- Peppers 'n' Potatoes Beef Skillet Supper from Rachel Ray magazine.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 chopped onion

1 lb ground beef

salt and pepper

4 sliced chopped bacon (use kitchen shears to cut it)

1 lb baby red skinned potatoes, quartered

2 bell peppers cut into strips

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

15 oz. can tomato sauce

12 oz. bag egg noodles

I adjusted the ingredients a bit when I made it- I only used 10 oz. of ground beef and adjusted the other ingredients down a bit to account for this. I also used different potatoes because I didn't want to buy the more expensive baby red potatoes.

In a large, deep skillet heat up the extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. Then add the onion, cooking until softened. 

Add the beef (turn the heat down- I didn't and my pan got a little burned) and cook until browned. Season meat with salt and pepper and dump into a bowl.

Add the chopped bacon to the skillet and cook over medium heat until crisp. Drain bacon bits on a paper towel lined plate. Try not to eat all of the bacon while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients (I did eat all of it and boy was it good!).

Add the potatoes to the skillet and coat with the bacon fat. Cover the skillet and cook until just barely tender (about 8 minutes).

Add the peppers and cook until they are softened.

Then add the beef, frozen peas, tomato sauce and one cup of water. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through (about 10 minutes).

Cook the egg noodles according to the package directions.

Take skillet off of heat and add the cooked egg noodles. Top with the bacon if you have any left.

So, for the important part- did we like it?

Well, my kids would never touch anything like this in a million years- they don't like when stuff is all mixed together (I gave them egg noodles with parmesan cheese). As for my husband and I- we liked it. It tasted good but I don't think I will be making it again anytime soon just for the mere fact that it did take a bit of time to prepare and right now and for the foreseeable future I don't have tons of time to put into cooking something that is not really, really good. I will keep the recipe though and may revisit it in the future when I have more time to commit to making dinner.