Stuffed Peppers

This might be my longest post yet. Because of all the pictures!!! This recipe is not complicated but it can take some time. Several of the components can be made ahead of time which is a huge time saver. And I have never made this the same way twice. Invariably something is missing from my fridge or I see something in there that I think would be good so I just throw it in the mix. The other nice thing is that this ALWAYS makes more stuffing than I have peppers to fill. Why is this nice? Well - because this is delicious when you stuff it in a tortilla and add some scrambled eggs for a quick breakfast burrito. Or fill a tortilla for a regular burrito. Or heat it up and eat it straight. Or buy more peppers and make it again later in the week! Or make the Italian Sausage Noodle Bake recipe that I posted on Tuesday! Ver-Sa-Tile. :)



Last night I made the Italian Sausage Noodle Bake and I made twice as much of the meat (ground turkey & chicken Italian sausage) as I needed. I made rice today so that was ready when I went to mix this all together too. Those are the time savers. Although I have found that you can start cooking the rice when you start cooking everything else and its usually ready about the same time. The only problem with this recipe is that I don't measure anything, although that's also the best part - you can tailor this to your families likes & dislikes really easily! Just add whatever veggies you like and remove anything that you don't. I really like adding stuff with different colors - just because it makes it so pretty!!! Enough of the chit chat - here's my "recipe" from tonight's creation. Oh - original credit for this one goes to my Mutha, Mumsy, Mother, Mommy, Mom - Helen. :)

Ingredients:
Cooked rice (we like brown)
About a pound of ground meat - I like to use Italian Sausage (I used chicken today, but have used pork sausage previously - it's all good) and/or ground turkey or ground chicken. I've never used ground beef but I suppose you could try it! Tonight I used 1/2 ground turkey & 1/2 chicken Italian sausage.
3 Green Peppers - I have learned that when choosing the green peppers at the store it's best to pick the ones that have 4 "bumps" on the bottom, rather than 3. This allows them to lay flat when you cut them in half. Also - the larger the better. You can fit more stuffing that way. :)
Chicken Stock
Celery
Onion
Garlic
Colored Bell Peppers - we usually have a bag of those sweet little peppers from Costco
Mushrooms
Carrots - I buy the bag of matchstick carrots and just rough chopped them
Spinach - I put the whole bag in tonight! Just a rough chop on this too
Parmesan Cheese

*Depending on your oven speed - figure out when you need to preheat it to 350.

Cut your green bell peppers in half from top to bottom. Clear out the insides but be careful when you remove the "top". you just want to remove the top - don't rip off any of the pepper with it - it's the side of the pepper when you lay it down so you want it to be there so the stuffing doesn't fall out. This recipe works best if you pre-cook the bell peppers a little. Less time in the oven later if you par-boil them just a little. Just throw them in a pot of boiling water and let them simmer for a few minutes. They'll change color and soften up. Don't overcook them - you don't want them to fall apart when you pull them out. When they're done drain the water off and place them in a greased casserole dish. Depending on how many peppers you are making you can pick an appropriate pan. 3 peppers takes up a 13x9 pan usually. Set this aside - it's ok if it cools off while you make the stuffing.

Ok - start cooking your rice (follow the package directions) if you don't have any leftover.

In a large frying pan, put some olive oil and start cooking the meat over a medium low heat until it's cooked through. Drain any fat. While the meat is cooking you can start prepping all the veggies. (Remember - my meat was already cooked so that's why you only see veggies in the pictures) Everything should be diced or chopped fairly small. Depending on what veggies you are going to use - you'll add them in order of what needs to cook the longest.

Celery, Onion & Carrot takes a little longer than mushrooms. The matchstick carrots don't take as long as if you chopped up an actual carrot. You don't want to cook everything to mush - unless you're into that sort of thing! Everything is going to finish cooking when you put this in the oven. Tonight I threw everything in and let it cook down and then put about 2 cups of rice in the mix too. You might need to add some chicken stock to your mix. You don't want it soupy but the rice will soak up a lot of liquid and you don't want it to dry out in the oven.

 Again - just add as much rice as you like. Lastly I threw in the chopped spinach.

 This wilts down so quick I just stirred it in and then it was ready to stuff in the peppers!

Stuff the peppers as full as you can and then mound some more on the top! Top with some Parmesan cheese & bake for about 20 minutes. If you think the stuffing mixture is a little dry just pour a little chicken stock into each pepper so that it doesn't dry out when he bakes.

Enjoy!