To determine the total number of cups in the finished recipe, we need to add the volume of all the ingredients together. Here’s the breakdown of the ingredients in terms of cups:
- Pepper & onion blend: 8 cups
- Cooked seasoned ground beef: The weight is 1.5 lbs. Cooked ground beef typically yields about 2 cups of cooked meat per pound. Therefore, 1.5 lbs would yield approximately: \[ 1.5 \text{ lbs} \times 2 \text{ cups/lb} = 3 \text{ cups} \]
- Cooked white rice: 4 cups
- Water: 4 cups (though this may not remain in the final recipe once cooked, we will include it for the sake of volume)
- Hot sauce: Typically, this adds minimal volume; we will ignore it for volume calculation.
- Shredded cheese: 1.5 cups
Now, let’s add up all the volumes:
\[ 8 \text{ cups (pepper & onion blend)} + 3 \text{ cups (ground beef)} + 4 \text{ cups (rice)} + 4 \text{ cups (water)} + 1.5 \text{ cups (cheese)} = 20.5 \text{ cups} \]
After considering the ingredients and their weights, the total volume of this recipe when it’s done is approximately 20.5 cups. However, please note that when cooking, some of the water will evaporate, possibly reducing the final volume slightly depending on cooking time and method.