Mini stuffed pepper meal at a buck a serving!

This ugly looking but fabulous tasting meal features home grown bell peppers (read as small and thin walled) that are stuffed with a combo of hamburger, rice, onion and tomato sauce. They are cooked along with two russet potatoes and some carrots. This meal goes together easily and tastes great! Did I also mention that each serving cost me only about a buck? Time needed to make everything was about 30-40 minutes, not including the slow cooker times.

Ingredients:

½ lb ground beef

4 mini bell peppers

2 medium russet potatoes, rough cut

2 carrots, sliced into equal chunks

1 cup of instant rice (pre-cooked)

10 to 12 thin slices of you favorite cheese

1/4 small onion (yellow or white)

8 oz can of tomato sauce

Salt and pepper to taste (I used fake salt)

Directions:

Prepare a cup of instant rice according to the package directions. Slice the tops off the peppers and clear the interiors of membranes and seeds. Chop what you can from the tops and place in a frying pan set to medium heat. Chop up the onion and toss it into the pan along with the ground beef. Brown the ground beef, stirring occasionally. Drain the meat mixture and then add to a mixing bowl. Add in the rice and season with salt and pepper. Add ½ the can of tomato sauce to the bowl and mix everything thoroughly. Set in the fridge along with the peppers.

In a slow cooker set to high, add the chopped carrots and potatoes. Also add just enough tomato sauce to lightly cover reserving the rest for the tops of the stuffed peppers. Cover and cook for 2-3 hours or until the potatoes and carrots feel almost done.

Take the peppers and meat mix from the fridge and stuff the peppers with the meat mixture. Place the peppers in a microwave over for about 2 minutes to get them warmed up. (At this point the pepper should still feel somewhat solid). Take the stuffed peppers over to the slow cooker and carefully place them on top of the carrots and potatoes. Add the cheese making an X-shaped pattern on top. Finally, drizzle the rest of the tomato sauce over the tops of each pepper and recover the slow cooker. Cook for an additional hour or so on the low setting. Plate and enjoy! Serves 4.

Notes:

This meal is not only great tasting, but it's down right cost effective if you grow your own peppers, potatoes and carrots in the process. Even though I had to purchase the potatoes and carrots from a grocery store the per serving cost was still only about a half a buck!

The entire meal made up about four 13 ounce servings. Each serving consisted of a single stuff pepper, some potato wedges and a few carrots. Here is the nutritional breakout:

Calories           417

Cal fr fat          87

Sodium            394 mg

Cholesterol      58 mg

Carbs               59 mg

All-in-all, not a bad meal considering you can serve a family of four for about four bucks!