Good Morning Darlings!

Yesterday had me gushing over blogger Beth at Budget Bytes (have you checked her out yet? doesn’t she look like Mena Suvari?)

Anyhoo, I made Beth’s stuffed poblano peppers last night for Eric and he loved them. We had a big lunch of chinese takeout leftovers so I only made two stuffed peppers, which was perfect for us. I didn’t photograph my peppers because they weren’t very pretty. Here are Beth’s stuffed peppers. Just pretend mine looked like this.

Here’s Beth’s recipe. For the recipe with step by step photos, click here.

Total Recipe cost: $6.18
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Cost per serving: $1.03
Prep time: 30 min. Cook time: 1 hr. 30 min. Total: 2 hrs.

INGREDIENTS		COST
1 cup	uncooked long grain rice	$0.30
2 cubes	bullion (vegetable or chicken)	$0.24
1/4 tsp	chili powder	$0.05
1/4 bunch	fresh cilantro	$0.17
6 medium-large	poblano peppers	$2.98
4 oz.	cheese	$0.99
3/4 cup (divided)	salsa	$0.52
1 can	black beans	$0.87
variable	non-stick spray	$0.10
TOTAL		$6.18

STEP 1: Cook the rice in a medium pot with 1.75 cups of water and two buillion cubes.(instructions for cooking rice here) While the rice is cooking, finely chop the cilantro. Mix the cilantro and chili powder into the rice after it has finished cooking. Set the rice aside until you are ready to use it.

STEP 2: While the rice is cooking, roast the poblanos. Preheat the broiler to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet and coat all sides of the poblano peppers with non-stick spray (you can rub olive oil all over them but I find spraying is much easier). Place the baking sheet a few inches under the broiler (I use the second rack level) and broil on each side for 5 minutes.

STEP 3: After broiling the poblanos, the skin should be blistered and bubbly. Immediately place the peppers into a ziplock bag for about 15 minutes to allow the steam to loosen the skin. Remove them from the bag and peel away as much of the skin as possible (be gentle and it is okay if you can’t get ALL of the skin).

STEP 4: Cut a boat shaped piece out of each pepper and then carefully remove the seeds and seed pod. Save the pieces of pepper that are removed to make the openings because it makes a great ingredient for salads, burrito bowls or quesadillas (breakfast quesadilla anyone?).

STEP 5: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (bake, not broil this time). Gently fill the peppers with layers of seasoned rice, salsa, cheese and beans. I began with rice (1/3 to 1/2 cup), then 1 Tbsp of salsa, 1/3 oz. of cheese, beans (as much as I could stuff in), then more salsa and cheese (same amounts as before).

STEP 6: Place the peppers back in the oven and bake until they are heated through and the cheese is melted (about 20 minutes). Enjoy!

I have to admit I cheated a little and used some leftover risotto instead of making it fresh, but I figured it was even cheaper that way. I used Mexican queso, which does not get all melty like I think cheese should, but it still tasted good.

Whose recipes are you cooking these days? Share with me.

xoxo, Patti

Today blogging to – The Mexican Hat Dance (you cannot miss this one…)