Last night's dinner was a first for me! The boys and I stopped by the local farmers market last Saturday and found some tasty looking bell peppers! (Unfortunately our bell pepper plants haven't done well in this heat!). We were inspired! We brought them home and I started searching for a good recipe.
Having never made or had stuffed peppers before, I wasn't sure what even went in them! I quickly found this recipe from All Recipes. However, as I usually do, I made a few switches in the ingredients. I replaced the plain (and not super nutritional) rice with quinoa (high in protein and *super* nutritional!). Also, I only made four peppers, rather than six, and replaced the Worcestershire sauce with Soy sauce (as my Worcestershire sauce has mysteriously disappeared!).
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
Dash of salt
1/2 C quinoa
4 green bell peppers
16 oz tomato sauce (split in half)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Salt and Pepper
1 lb Shredded Cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Directions
Preheat your oven to a toasty 350*
Rinse your quinoa, then set it to boil on medium heat
Toss your salt into a pan, followed by your beef, set it on low heat and cover, mixing occasionally until thoroughly browned.
While those are cooking up, cut off the tops of your bell peppers and remove the seeds and membranes.
Place your peppers in a baking dish of your choice, open end up. (I preferred one that held them tightly together so they helped to keep each other standing.)
In a mixing bowl place your quinoa,
Beef,
8oz tomato sauce, soy sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
and spoon the mixture into your peppers. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top of each full pepper to your liking, (as far as I'm concerned, the more cheese the better!).
Mix your last 8oz of tomato sauce and Italian seasoning, and pour it over the top of your peppers, making sure to cover the bottom of the baking pan. (So the peppers are sitting in the sauce as well).
The recipe I found called to cook them for an hour. Well. Its August. In Kansas. Not happening. I went about 45 minutes instead, which was all it took at 350 to cook the peppers through and tender, (and make my house smell AMAZING!).
And Voila!!
A tasty dinner for my family! Everyone really loved them, though I think I may look for smaller peppers next time, the "filling to pepper" ratio was a lil heavy on the pepper side. ;)
Do you have a recipe for stuffed peppers that you prefer? Feel free to share! I'd love to try this tasty meal again!
Jennifer
Can't wait to try it!
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