When I was a kid my mom used to serve us something called Chili Bean Tacos.  I think she got the recipe from a magazine.  Probably a Woman’s World or Woman’s Day or something like that. Basically she would heat up cans of chili (Hormel) and we would put our chili on top of toasted English muffins, then top with cheese and sour cream.  I’m sure the adults probably also used chopped onion and tomato.

I loved Chili Bean Tacos but I haven’t had them in years.  The other night I got back home from being out of town for a couple of days and didn’t know what to have for supper.  It needed to be something quick and easy.  I already had some browned ground beef in the freezer (what a HUGE time save to cook up ground beef and freeze for later use).

I pulled out about 1/2 lb browned lean ground beef.  I defrosted it in the microwave and made a quick chili using canned Rotel and kidney beans.  You could of course use your own chili recipe or use canned chili.  I then, instead of using English Muffins, toasted the new Arnold’s Sandwich Thins.  My refrigerator was running bare so all I had in the way of toppings were cheese, sour cream and diced jalapeno.  Other ideas would be onion, tomato, olives, and avocado.

Chili Bean Tacos

1/2 lb lean ground beef, browned
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can Rotel (or 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis)
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic
2 tsp cumin
4 English Muffins or Arnold’s Sandwich Thins
Toppings: cheese, sour cream, jalapeno, onion, tomato, etc.

Brown the beef in a medium or large skillet, add the Rotel and kidney beans.  Add the spices.  Mix well and let simmer about 15 to 20 minutes. Toast your muffins or sandwich thins.  Place one muffin on a plate and top each half with chili, use about 1/4 of the chili per muffin.  Top as desired.

The nutritional info will vary with the chili you use and what toppings you put on your Chili Bean Taco.  My quick chili recipe worked out to 4 Weight Watcher points per serving.  The Arnold’s Sandwich Thins were 1 point each.  With an ounce of 2% low fat cheddar and 1 ounce of low fat sour cream, my Chili Bean Taco worked out to be 8 WW points.