Mexican Steak and bean wraps with homemade guacamole.

You may have noticed that although I love food made from scratch, I'm not shy of using a few shortcuts here and there. As with any sane person, time is precious to me. If there is a chance of saving some without compromising the final product, I'm in! This time it came in the form of a tin of mixed beans from tesco. I was looking at the shelf for some mixed beans in water but saw 'Tesco taco mix beans and Mexican sauce.' Hello shortcut. 

I made a simple stew by adding some fresh ingredients to the beans and served it inside the homemade tortillas with cheese, steak strips and guacamole on the side. A little naughty but all those vegetables make up for it, right?

Mexican bean stew with steak

Serves 2 with leftovers

1 courgette or 3 super cute baby courgettes, sliced

1 tin taco mixed beans

1 small tin sweet corn

Half a red pepper, chopped

Half or a whole chilli finely chopped (to taste)

3 or 4 spring onions, sliced

2 thin cut steaks

Firstly take the courgette and fry off in a pan until slightly browned. Next add in the beans, corn, peppers, and chilli. Allow to cool down slightly, add in some water if it gets too dry. 

Leave the beans on a low heat and get a pan really hot. I used the pan I had been cooking the tortillas in so it was already nicely hot, nearly smoking. Add in a small amount of oil and butter, let it froth and then pop in your steaks. The thin cut steaks really only need about 3 minutes cooking if you want them pink. Start with 2 minutes on one side, leave it to cook quickly and then turn it. Take it off the heat and leave to rest for a couple of minutes before slicing in to strips. 

Lastly add in the spring onions to the bean mix and serve. 

Fresh guacamole

Makes 4 portions depending on size of avocados

Take half a chilli and finely chop, along with a handful of chopped coriander and mix together. Add in 3 small ripe tomatoes that have cut in to cubes. Halve the avocados and peel, then chop roughly. Add in to the other ingredients and mash with a fork. Last add lime juice and salt to taste, mix through and it's ready to eat.