Friday, September 25, 2015

Stuffed Bell Peppers

My mom used to make stuffed bell peppers quite often, and I remember making some myself many years ago. But then I somehow forgot about them for many years.

I picked up some beautiful bell peppers at the Farmers Market, and my original plan had been to use them in a bell pepper/tomato salad. But then I got the idea to stuff them with a ground beef veggie mixture and bake them in the oven. The result was delicious.

Bell Peppers

I believe my mom used to stuff whole peppers with raw meet and baked them for a long time in the oven; I wasn’t too fond of the texture of the actual peppers as they got very soft and a bit mushy. I decided to cut the peppers in half, quickly blanch them, and then stuff them with sautéed veggies and meat. Then I put them in the oven to melt a little cheese on top. I really liked the texture of the peppers as they still had some bite to them, but they weren’t too hard.

Stuffed Bell Peppers 3

Stuffed Bell Peppers
6 servings

Ingredients
  • 3 bell peppers
  • 2 cups tomato sauce 
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 12 ounces mushrooms, diced
  • 4 tablespoons ketchup (or tomato sauce)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • Tabasco sauce, (I use about 6 - 8 “squirts,” but I like my food spicy)
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Heat a pan over medium high heat and add the olive oil once the pan is hot. 
  3. Sauté the onions and mushrooms for about 4 minutes until they are soft and slightly brown and then add the ground beef and cook for about 15 minutes, until the meat is cooked through. Season with salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and ketchup.
  4. While the meat mixture is cooking, cut off the tops of the bell peppers (I use them to dip into guacamole or salsa), cut the peppers in half, and clean out the insides. 
  5. Blanch the halved bell peppers for 1.5 minutes in boiling water and then rinse them under cold water (or dip them into ice water.) 
  6. Put the tomato sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish and arrange the halved bell peppers on top of the tomato sauce. 
  7. Fill the bell pepper halves with the meat mixture. 
  8. Top the peppers with the shredded cheddar cheese. 
  9. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and slightly brown. 
Stuffed Bell Peppers 2
[Note: I had some meat mixture left over and ate it on top of spinach for lunch twice.]
Questions: Do you like bell peppers? If so, what’s your favorite way to eat them?

Be well,
Andrea