South of the Border Casserole

South of the Border Casserole

1 tsp olive oil
1 pound extra lean ground beef
3/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced sweet green peppers
2 seeded, fresh jalapeno peppers, minced
1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes
2 cups nonfat sour cream
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz uncooked penne or macaroni pasta

1.  Add the olive oil to a nonstick pan and place over medium high heat.

2.  Add the ground beef, breaking it up, cook until no longer pink.  Drain any fat from the pan.

3.  Add the onions, green pepper, cooking until softened.  Stir in the jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, sour cream, honey, chili powder and salt.

4. Add the pasta. Stir, cover, lower the heat and gently simmer until the pasta is tender, about 25 minutes.  Stir every five minutes, to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.


We love this stuff.  But I do things a whole lot differently than the recipe suggests.  I use ground turkey and add it, the onions, and green pepper to the pan at the same time.  Once that is finished up, I just dump.  I use diced tomatoes instead of whole, because otherwise you have to break up the tomatoes, and that just saves a step.  I don't use fresh jalapenos, I typically just use pickled, and depnding on how spicy we want it, depends on how much I add, but I don't add anywhere near 2 whole peppers.  If I actually have the fresh jalapeno, I typically only use half of one pepper.  Do it to your own liking.