Stuffed Peppers

I didn’t grow up eating stuffed peppers, it just wasn’t something my mom fixed for us, but I looked up a recipe online and came up with this one.   

I’ve made them with green or red peppers and they are both equally delicious.   You just core them and leave a big enough hole at the top to stuff the mixture down inside before baking.

Boil them for just a couple of minutes to get the cooking process started.

Brown ground beef and onions, add a can of tomato sauce.  I cook brown rice ahead of time and have it ready, add about 2 cups cooked rice, brown or white, your preference.

Stuff the meat and rice mixture inside the peppers and bake.  I add Parmesan cheese to the top and then sprinkle on a bit more once they are out of the oven and all sliced up on the plate. These look a little wrinkled, but BOY, are they good.  The flavors are great together.  I don’t even make another side dish with these.  You have rice, meat and peppers all in one dish and it’s very filling and tasty. In this pic, I used some diced tomatoes, cause I didn’t have tomato sauce on hand, but one small can of tomato sauce will work for 3 peppers.

Here’s the recipe from Food Network online.  The recipe calls for more chopped green peppers inside the mixture, but I leave that out.

Mr. John’s Meat-Stuffed Bell Peppers

6 Green Bell Peppers, tops cut away & seeds removed (I only make 3 at a time)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 lb to 1 lb. lean ground beef  (recipe calls for 1/2 pork, but I just used ground beef)

1 TBL minced garlic (I used garlic powder on this one)

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (I used dried parsley)

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Pinch red pepper flakes

2 cups cooked rice (I used brown rice)

8 oz. tomato sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*

In large pot of boiling water, parboil the peppers until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove and set on baking pan.

In large saute pan or skillet, sautee the onions in a bit of oil, then brown the meat,  cook and stir until meat is browned.  Add all the spices and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add tomato sauce and rice and stir together well.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Pour a tiny bit of water in bottom of baking dish.  Stuff bell peppers with meat mixture and place them up in the baking dish.  Bake until peppers are tender about 30 minutes.

I add Parmesan cheese to it and it’s delish!

Do you like stuffed  peppers or have you ever made them?  If you haven’t, give them a try.  I didn’t think I’d like them all that much, but now they are one of our favorite go-to dishes.

Added to Jen’s Tasty Tuesday.