This is a quick, easy, and cheap recipe that isn't necessarily the healthiest, but is great for working in red bell peppers (a superfood!) and complex carbohydrates. It can feed an army, it keeps well as leftovers, and you're not going to be disappointed in the taste. This is a great healthy dish to make for dinner and it feeds the whole family for like $6!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound of ground beef or ground turkey
- 1 pound of brown rice (I like 10-minute rice or instant rice, but you can have your choice)
- 1 (30oz) can of tomato sauce
- 2 red bell peppers
- Seasoning according to taste. I like using black pepper, a pinch or two of salt, and garlic powder, but feel free to go nuts
DIRECTIONS
- Chop red bell peppers. I like to cut the red bell peppers into strips and then chop into smaller pieces, but you can do whatever. This is also a great way to prepare stuffing for red bell peppers if you prefer to just leave them whole.
- Prepare rice according to the instructions. I used 10-minute brown rice. It was about 3 cups of rice and I used just under 3 cups of water to prepare it. You want to go with a slightly reduced amount of liquid because of the tomato sauce. How do you make really good rice? DO NOT OPEN THE LID. Bring the water to a boil, dump in the rice, lower the heat, cover it, and DO NOT TOUCH IT UNTIL IT'S DONE.
- Brown ground beef or ground turkey. I add in the red bell pepper while I'm browning the meat because the fat will help bring out the fat-soluble vitamins (sort of like when you're cooking carrots). You don't have to do this. I also season at this point.
- Drain ground beef/red bell pepper mixture and place in the pot with your rice once it's prepared.
- Pour in tomato sauce and mix together.
That's it! Now do a taste test, add in some salt and pepper if you need more, and serve immediately. I usually eat a small bowlful because this is a hearty, basic, filling dish. You won't be hungry!
