Dinner Challenge #1

It's finally Monday! Never thought I would say that but it's been baby shower mania in my house for the past week and I have one more shower to go. I will be the first to tell you that I LOVE hosting parties! My husband, Kevin, and I bought the house we did because, #1 we fell in love with it and, #2 it's a great party house! The downside to my love of throwing a party is that I love decorating and making food to go with the theme and it all MUST to be perfect! I usually drive myself crazy the day before and especially the day of the party (and I'm pretty sure I drive Kevin crazy too) but this is why I will always have some form of alcohol at my events; to celebrate of coarse!

I'll post pictures of the most recent shower later this week but for now I'll stick to the subject of this post, the first dinner challenge. With a laundry list of projects to do around the house, I have started to  look for ways to cut corners on some things, for example doing my own dry cleaning and ironing istead of sending it off. A big part of this change is eating at home more often. To give you a little bit more history on this challenge, I grew up never eating out and always at home where as my husband grew up eating out the majority of the time. While he is trying to bring his lunch to work more often, a goal of atleast twice a week (baby steps), I am trying to eat at home completely except for work lunches and our date night out! Yes, we feel it's important to either do a dinner out with friends or a date night once a week and it gives us something to look forward to at the end of a long week.

This week's new dinner was Mexican Beef & Pasta! Sounds a little strange but I knew that for my food particular husband having a marriage between his two favorite types of food would be a win, and it was!

Mexican Beef & Pasta

Serving size: 4

2 cups Spiral Pasta (I used whole wheat) or any shape pasta will work
1/2 lbs ground beef
1 small onion or half a large onion (I used red onion)
2 cans (14 oz) no-salt- added diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 can black beans (drained)
1 ear fresh corn or 1 cup frozen corn (thawed)
1 cup salsa (chunky prefered)
1 can chopped green chilis or jalepenos
fajita seasoning or taco seasoning
                                                                                    sour cream (optional)
                                                                                    tortilla chips (optional)

1. Cook pasta according to package and drain. While pasta is cooking, brown ground beef and onions until meat is fully cooked and drain excess liquid.
2. Stir in the next 5 ingredients.
3. Sprinkle top of food with desired amount of seasoning to taste, stir together and bring to a boil.
4. Let simmer, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes.
5. Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips if desired.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home