Always Read Instructions

Last night for dinner I made a Chili Skillet meal with ground beef. The recipe included Diced tomatoes( I used the ones with diced green peppers and onions), tomato sauce(I used Condensed Tomato Soup with a little water), Red kidney beans or black beans (I used black beans), Macaroni noodles, Chili powder, Garlic salt ( I used garlic powder and added a little salt), 3/4 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup chili peppers, (I cut up a green pepper), 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and ground beef.
The reason why I titled this blog "Always Read Instructions" is because I did not read the directions at first, of course I poured over the ingredient list and assumed the macaroni would require a boiling of water and using the whole box. Instead I read the recipe while boiling water and realized the recipe only called for 1/2 cup of macaroni noodles and they were to be added to the mix and simmered for 20 minutes until tender.
Meanwhile, I figured I already have the water almost boiling so I cooked the noodles in the water and then added them to the chili skillet mix at the very end.
This dish was quite easy to put together, brown the meat, add the seasonings,onion, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and then simmer for 20 minutes, I ended up adding my peppers at the 15 minute mark because I am against over cooking pepper. At the end of the 20 minutes I took the pot off the heat and added the cooked macaroni and cheese.
At this point I realized that this meal is more of a Chili consistency, when I thought Skillet Chili for some reason I thought it have less liquid than a traditional chili. Well this was not the case, I think next time I will omit the macaroni and serve the chili with white rice and corn bread.
This observation aside, this is a delicious easy meal, that is not hard on the bank account and it makes 4 generous portions so we have enough for leftovers.