What's For Dinner #1 - Stuffed Peppers

I am frequently asked what kind of food my family eats on a budget of $50.00 per week. We have a sit down meal every night, unless our schedule doesn't allow. On weekends when everyone is coming and going a lot, each person fixes leftovers. Here is an example of what I made for dinner last night, with ingredients from this week's shopping deals.

First, I stopped into Food Lion and scanned my MVP card at the kiosk. I got a coupon for 75 cents off any bag of My Essentials Rice, so I grabbed this little bag for 82 cents:

Then I picked out 5 green bell peppers, a carton of organic grape tomatoes, some bananas, a bag of Sargento shredded cheese and a box of Idaho Spuds. I used both the $5.00 FLIP and the $2.00 Produce FLIP. My bill came to $3.25 with tax.

Then I found a recipe and modified it for the ingredients I had on hand and to serve five. I cooked  one and 1/2 cups of rice according to the directions in one pot. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, then halved and cored the peppers and placed them cut side down on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking oil to roast for 25 minutes.

Next, I heated 2 Tbls. and 1 1/2 tsp of olive oil in a skillet and added:  1 small chopped onion, 2 1/2 tsp basil, 2 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, 2 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper and cooked 2-3 minutes until it looked like this:

 I stirred in a can of diced tomatoes from my stockpile and cooked for 5 more minutes:

 I also added a bag of bacon bits that I got cheaply at the last Harris Teeter Super Doubles event:

Next I added the rice and heated through. After turning off the heat, I added 1 and 1/4 cups of shredded cheese and mixed it all up: 

 While I was making the peppers my daughter, Bridgette, was in charge of the Idaho Spuds. Here she is reading the microwave directions:

Finally, I removed the peppers from the oven, stuffed them, and put them back in to cook for 5 more minutes:

 

Voila! Stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes with leftover cornbread and candied yams was our dinner last night.  Bridgette says it was THE BEST SHE'S EVER TASTED and had another one for lunch today!