It's great when you throw together a bunch of ingredients that you have on hand, totally spontaneously, and it turns out so good that you know you'll definitely make it again, but next time it'll be on purpose.

It all started with a package of ground beef. I was dividing it into 1 pound portions for the freezer, and I was left with about 2 oz of extra meat. Since I was on my own for dinner I figured I might as well cook it up for myself. All I needed was some inspiration. I pulled out some red pepper, green onions, a bottle of teriyaki sauce, and started cooking some brown rice. This gave me about 45 minutes to completely change my mind about the direction I was going and I abandoned the teriyaki sauce (after all, I'd just made something asian inspired for lunchlunch), opting for some fajita seasoning that's been part of my spice collection for too long (and I think I've only used it once before). I'm not even sure why I bought it in the first place, but since I did I might as well use it. If I ever decide to make this recipe without it I'm sure I can replace it with fresh garlic, onion, salt, black pepper, cumin, oregano, some kind of sweetener (honey? brown sugar?) and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

This can easily be scaled up to feed more people, but sometimes it's nice to make dinner for yourself and not have any leftovers.

1/4 cup brown rice (uncooked)
2 oz ground beef
fajita seasoning
1/4 of a red pepper, cut into bite-sized peices
2 green onions, white and green parts thickly sliced
1/4 cup salsa
shredded colby & monterey jack cheeses

Cook the rice according to package instructions.

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meat and sprinkle generously with fajita seasoning. Break it into chunks with a wooden spoon or spatula. Let it cook without stirring until well browned, then start stirring it around to brown the rest. Add the green onions and red pepper and stir-fry until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add the salsa and heat through.

Serve on top of the rice and sprinkle with cheese.

Serves 1