For something a little different I put together this recipe. It wasn’t difficult at all and looked rather lovely on the plate when finished. You really don’t need much accompaniment to these lovely peppers as there is rice in them and the pepper is your veggie. We had a green salad on the side which rounded out this meal perfectly.
I just love this recipe which was so delicious and nutritious loaded with seasoned ground beef, rice and tomatoes. I finished them off with mozzarella cheese and baked until perfectly tender.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup white rice — yes you can use brown I just used white
Kosher Salt and Coarse Ground Black Pepper
6 Bell Peppers , use any color you like –use medium to large sized and check that they will be able to sit up straight in pan
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 lb. ground beef — use lean or 80/20 and an option here is to used ground turkey ( 85-90% lean) ground chicken will probably be too dry. I myself like the ground beef flavor but that being said I am sure turkey would be just fine , just don’t use the lean kind and if you can get ground dark meat that is most preferable
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped app. 1 cup
3 garlic cloves minced, app. 1 Tbsp.
1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes, drained
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
app. 1 cup shredded Mozzarella
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook rice according to package directions
Trim about 1/4 inch from tops of bell peppers and then remove stems, ribs and seeds. Fill a baking dish large enought to fit peppers with about 1/2 ” of water
Place Peppers upside down in water, cover with foil and bake for about 20 mins.
In a large skillet ( if not non-stick spray with cooking spray) over medium high heat. Add onion and saute till translucent and very soft app 4-5 minutes. Move onions to one side of the skillet and add beef season with some Salt and Pepper and let it sear until browned and then start to move it around so it cooks on both sides — app. 4-5 mins. Breaking up the beef and stir the onions in and continue to cook for a few mins. ,add the garlic and continue to cook until beef is cooked through , about another few minutes. Remove from heat and if there is any fat you can drain at this point.
Stir in the tomatoes ( drained), half of the can of tomato sauce ( 1/2 cup) app. cooked rice, Italian Seasoning, and season to taste with Salt and Pepper
Remove peppers from the oven and turn oven down to 350 degrees. Turn peppers upright, sprinkle inside lightly with some salt and fill with beef filling. Pour a little tomato sauce over the top of peppers. Cover with foil and continue to bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven after 20 minutes, sprinkle with some shredded mozzarella, return to oven and bake uncovered until cheese is melted and peppers will have reached the desired tenderness, about 10 – 20 more minutes. Serve warm
Cooking with Candi 