Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole

It occured to me today that I am very intimidated by recipes. Small ones, long ones, ones out of books, ones off of the internet. Recipes in general tend to scare me.

I think it's some ingrained negative response that throws back to the days I would watch my mom bust out a meal without a single measuring spoon in sight. Whenever I learned to make anything from her, she never taught me to use measuring and recipes. It was all "a pinch of this" and "a dash of that" and good old fashioned trial and error.

So when I sit down now and try to hash out some recipes for my friends I run in to two frustrating obstacles: I don't usually measure anything and I am intimidted by recipes. (Yes, even my own.)


If you like stuffed bell peppers (which I do), here is an easy way to get the same taste in a simpler to make dish (which is conviently cheaper too).

Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole

1 Package of frozen bell pepper and onion blend*
1 Package of italian sausage
1 Can of black beans
2 Cups cooked white rice
Shredded Cheese
Pinch of garlic powder

Fry up the italian suasage in a large skillet until it is thouroughly browned. Add in the bell pepper blend and garlic and fry them until the peppers are tender.



Pour the mixture into a baking dish and pat it flat. Then pour the rice in on top of the sausage mixture and pat the rice down flat.

Put your baked beans on top of that and sprinkle your shredded cheese on the very top.

Pop it in the oven (which I forgot to mention should be preheated to 350) and bake it until the cheese it all melted and gooey and the casserole is heated through. I have an old stove that doesn't work the greatest; it took me about 15 minutes to bake it.

Here's what it should look like in the pan:




We like it best with sour cream and salsa.

*If you're wondering about my dubious list of ingredients, I assure you I use the cheapest and easiest to get ahold of items. I can't afford to run all around town for the good stuff.

The bell pepper blend is just a blend of bell peppers and onions that are available in the frozen food section. The sell them in little bags for like $.85 at the grocery store we buy from.

Actually, the most expensive part of this meal is the sausage, which cost me $2.99.

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Well friends, I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does. Like I mentioned before, it tastes pretty much like stuffed bell peppers, minus the large amount of effort.


Ease of preparation:


How tasty this recipe is:


Overall:



Took about 25 mins prep and 15 mins baking. Cost a little over four dollars? A serving this size would feed six to eight, though it is easily doubled by adding another cup of rice, another can of black beans and another bag of bell peppers. No need to splurge on more sausage, it stretches very nicely.