RECIPE: Simple Texas Hash

As a former Atkins dieter, I'm wrapping my head around this one slowly. It's got potatoes, for cryin' out loud! The no-no food of the low carb world is scary. But WW Power Foods include potatoes as a permitted "free food" vegetable. (And I have to cook the leftover potatoes I have, or they'll go to waste!) Lunch at school this week will alternate between this recipe, and my baked salmon recipe. Let's see if I can lose weight this week, under the influence of the evil potato!

SIMPLE TEXAS HASH:

This is before the meal is cooked completely, but it only got prettier!

1 lb lean ground beef
1 onion, sliced in slivers
3 medium to small potatoes, thinly sliced or diced
1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilis. Do not drain.
1 can tomato sauce
Salt, Pepper, Garlic to taste
Seasoned salt
Olive oil

Optional:
Pepperjack Cheese, sliced thinly
Beans- Kidney or otherwise, drained
Fat free refried beans
Fat free sour cream

Brown lean beef over medium heat in a large pan. (Lean beef means you don't have to drain anything!) Move beef to outside of skillet and put some olive oil in center of pan. Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic in the oil. Dump in onions and stir until hot and aromatic. Pile in potatoes. Sprinkle them with seasoned salt. Cover and heat through. Stir the whole mess together. Add Rotel, liquid and all (this may have been a mistake, since I don't like my food TOO spicy-hot!). Stir into the mess. Add tomato sauce, stirring again. Simmer on low, covered, stirring occasionally until potatoes are tender. I let it go for about forty minutes without a problem. (I forgot it a lot, too!)

Serve topped with a slice of Pepperjack cheese, with refried beans and sour cream on the side... Or stirred in.

NOTE: My taste-test said this was spicy hot, a little more so than I go for usually. But other than the heat, it's pretty bland. Feel free to play with the spices and let me know how it goes!

STYLE NOTE: I have noticed that when eating only Power Foods, I like to make meals with chunky ingredients to keep it texturally interesting. You could dice the potatoes really small so they'd cook faster and look more like traditional hash, but you'll lose the visual appeal! :)

MY WORK MEAL LINEUP:

Top: Slabs of baked salmon, Bottom: Simple Texas Hash, beans and cheese!