Red Beans and Rice Recipe

This is a super easy recipe for those weeknights you don't really feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Serve it with a salad and a Grands Reduced Fat Biscuit and you have a great dinner.
Red Beans and Rice

1 pound lean ground beef
1 large onion chopped or use dried minced onion to save time
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 TBS chili powder
2 tsp salt (I used seasoned salt)
1 16 oz can tomatoes or tomato juice (I used tomato juice)
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
1 can red kidney beans, undrained

Brown meat with onion and peppers. Add remaining ingredients except rice and beans. Remove from heat and pour into a 9x13 pan. Stir in rice and beans. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Note: this is more like a pilaf, drier than usual red beans and rice, but full of flavor. We loved it!

In other news, I am doing so much better and have no more pain. Yeah! Guess I'm finally healed. How in the world did women go through that before antibiotics?

A few days ago I was talking about Chuck's job offer in Beaumont. Well, it's not going to happen. We would have to sell our house and since we refinanced it for a lower rate and rolled the closing costs into our mortgage, we now owe more than what it's worth. If I had it do over I would not have refinanced but that's another story. The point is that selling our house would be a major issue. I really wasn't too hip on the idea of moving anyway so it all worked out.

Just so you know, I'm ready for fall. I tried to walk outside yesterday but my shoes melted to the concrete. We haven't seen weather conditions like this since the dawn of earth. I may exaggerate a little but it's still hot. :) Come on, fall!