Friday, April 8, 2011

Cheesy Beef and Pasta Skillet

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This is a nice quick one for a busy night—it seems like I can never get enough of those… even for the nights that I’m not that busy. :) I love that on the Kraft site, I can just plug in a couple ingredients I might have and they can generate a recipe for me. I didn’t have VELVEETA cheese, so I just ended up leaving that out and sprinkling grated cheese on at the end. It was pretty tasty.

Cheesy Beef and Pasta Skillet (kraftfoods.com)

  • 1/2 lb. extra lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chopped onions
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 cup penne pasta, uncooked
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped (I used red bell peppers, because that is what I had on hand.)
  • 2 oz. VELVEETA 2% Milk Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

Make It

COOK meat with onions, cumin and chili powder in large skillet on medium-high heat 5 min. or until meat is no longer pink, stirring occasionally.

ADD tomatoes, water, pasta and peppers; stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover. Simmer 18 to 20 min. or until pasta is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.

STIR in VELVEETA; cook 2 min. or until melted, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Add 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper along with the onions, cumin and chili powder.

Substitute a green bell pepper for the yellow pepper.

2 comments:

jess and seth said...

This looks so easy! Okay, so I have never cooked with cumin before. How sad is that? What exactly does it taste like?

Lyd Stew said...

Jess-
I bet you would really like cumin. The closest thing I can compare it to is chili powder, but it has just a bit more of an earthy flavor. It goes great in kind of Mexican dishes- its not spicy, but it adds some good depth of flavor- I like using it on meat rubs. I use it in the cafe rio pork and ones like that and I think it makes it really good. Hope that gives you an idea.
-Lyd