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Scrounging around the house for something to make for dinner tonight without having to go to the store for more supplies, the main ingredient of the day seemed to be ground beef. I thought picadillo might be good. In the past, I've used Trader Joe's jarred picadillo simmer sauce and found it to be pretty good. Tonight, however, with no simmer sauce, it was time to make it from scratch.

After a little searching around the internet for the basic ingredient list, I came up with the following version which you should be able to whip together in 20 minutes - just the amount of time it should also take you to steam some white rice and heat up a can of beans.

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup pimento stuffed olives, chopped
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 8oz tomato sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and allow to cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add ground beef, green onion, garlic, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and cumin. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Add olives, raisins and almonds and allow to cook an additional 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and stir well to combine. Reduce heat if necessary and allow to simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with rice and beans.