Bacon, beans and rice stuffed peppers with baby bok choy

Many people are often stumped for how to cook an inexpensive meal that is also healthy and satisfying. Below is a recipe that is good for your wallet, your body and your taste buds!

For the stuffed peppers, you may use any color you like, but green are often the cheapest and are also perhaps a bit more firm so they hold up well to cooking while stuffed. These can be made with ground beef or turkey as well, but it doesn't get much cheaper than rice and beans and it taste just as good. Although bacon can be pricey, using a little bit of bacon added really amps up the flavor and you will only need a couple of slices with this recipe. You can also simply make this vegetarian by omitting the bacon completely and it will still be quite tasty.
The ingredients listed can be adjusted for quantity based on how big a crowd you're feeding.

[Stuffed Peppers]

For the peppers, you will need:

A few green peppers
White or brown rice
Black beans (or any beans are fine)
1 onion (any color)
2-5 cloves of garlic
Any spare veggies you have around (fresh or frozen) such as celery, peas, corn, greens, carrots, etc.
tomato sauce
cooking oil
broth of choice
seasonings of choice including salt and pepper

Begin by cleaning out your peppers. Large peppers, once stuffed, can serve as an entree for two people once sliced in half (they really end up being a lot of food!), so plan your number of peppers accordingly. Cut the tops off your peppers and then use your fingers or a small knife to carefully clear out the white ribs and extra seeds inside.

First, it is a good idea to par-boil the peppers before stuffing them so that they will cook more thoroughly when baked. You can skip this step, but your peppers will just turn out a lot more firm and "raw" if you don't mind that. Simply boil a pot of water and let the whole peppers swim around in there for 5-10 minutes. Remove and leave to cool on a clean towel upside down to drain.

To prep the filling, either prepare some dry beans ahead of time (overnight soak, boiling, etc.) or open a can of your favorite beans. I used black beans for mine. Just be sure to always drain and rinse your canned beans to remove excess salt and preservatives. Keep your beans handy and begin by adding one finely chopped onion to a heated saucepan with a tablespoon of oil. If you are including bacon, chop two to four raw slices and cook with the onions (no need to add cooking oil if using bacon!) Once the onions are translucent (and bacon mostly crispy), add other raw veggies you've chopped such as carrots, celery or even more peppers. Add chopped garlic last. Once this has all sauteed a few minutes, add your rice to the pot. Now add enough broth (or broth and water) to completely cover the contents of the pot and then another half inch or so. You can always add more if your rice soaks it up before it is done. Heat to a low boil and then simmer and stir frequently.

Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, add your beans to the pot, half a cup or more of tomato sauce, salt and pepper as well as any other seasonings you might want. You can choose from Italian herbs, taco seasonings, cajun seasoning, hot sauce or whatever your imagination desires!
If you like, you could also add some cheese at this point like a handful of any shredded cheese you have, parmesan or even a cup of cottage cheese.

Now your filling is done and ready to assemble. Take your drained peppers and stand them up open-side up in a casserole dish with a little oil rubbed or sprayed in the bottom. Spoon the filling into the peppers and mash it down with a spoon inside to fit as much as you can and get rid of excess air spaces. These will be some heavy peppers! Top with a little hot sauce if desired and then sprinkle shredded cheese on top as well.

Bake at 350 for one hour. If desired, you can cover the dish with a tented piece of aluminum foil for the first half of cooking and then remove for the second half. This would be helpful if you've made a lot of peppers. If you use this method however, don't add the cheese to the top of the peppers until the second half of the cooking time.

[Sauteed Baby Bok Choy]

Ingredients:

3-5 baby bok choys
1 onion
cooking oil
1-2 cloves garlic
sesame oil
pepper flakes

This dish is much simpler and quicker and can be made while your peppers are baking.

Bok choy is a versatile vegetable that is easy to cook and is fairly cheap, especially if you can buy it at an Asian grocery. Baby bok choys are much smaller and can be simply cooked mostly whole like this recipe.

Wash and drain 3-5 baby bok choys and then slice in half length-wise. Set aside.

Slice or roughly chop half or one whole onion and saute in a skillet with little oil. When the onion is mostly cooked, add chopped garlic, 1-2 cloves. Stir well and then add halved bok choys cut side down first to skillet. Turn the bok choys after a few minutes and drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons roughly of toasted sesame oil and sprinkle with pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

When the leaves are wilted but still bright green and the white flesh is softened, they are done!

Yay, now dinner time! To serve your peppers, slice in half length-wise and serve cut side up on the plate, adding more shredded cheese or other toppings if desired. Spoon up a couple of baby bok choys along side and you're done!

If you don't have peppers, you can also just prepare the filling and eat that as a main dish, shown below.

Try it and let me know what you think in the comments!