Friday, May 28, 2010

Stuffed Green Peppers

I have never been a big fan of bell peppers, be it green, red or yellow! The only time I would eat bell peppers is when it's grilled up together with onions on a Philly Cheese Steak or when it's cooked in pasta sauce. I remember visiting Kevin's parents house many years ago (I believe it was one of the first few times he brought me home) and horror upon horrors, they made stuffed green peppers for dinner! Now, I have never tried stuffed peppers before but since I knew I didn't like bell peppers, I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it. Anyways, I didn't want to be rude so I gave it a try and guess what? I loved it! It's been a while since Kevin and I had stuffed green peppers, so we decided to make some for dinner last weekend. Here's how we make our version of stuffed green peppers.
First, you would need to prep the green peppers. Cut off the tops of the green pepper and save the tops. We will use the edible part of it later on.
Using a spoon, scrape off the insides of the pepper. Wash the peppers under cool running water, dry them off and set them aside.
Now, it's time to make the filling. Start off by browning some minced beef in a large pan. Once it's done, drain away all the excess grease and set aside.
Using the same pan, melt about 1/4 stick of butter and saute some chopped onions.
Then, add in the green pepper that we saved from the tops earlier. Just cut off the edible part of the top and chop into tiny pieces.

Next goes in the minced beef. Mix everything together.
Season the filling with a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, some paprika powder and garlic powder.
Give it a quick stir and add in some cooked rice. We used one packet of Lipton's Instant Spanish Rice. Just cook it according to the directions of the packet and you are set to go. You can pretty much use any type of long grain rice, it doesn't even have to be flavored. Of course it taste so much better if it is. Uncle Ben's is pretty good too.
After you have mixed the rice in with the filling, add in some tomato sauce. We used Ragu's 7 Herb Pasta Sauce in a bottle, since that's what we had in our pantry. Any type of tomato/pasta sauce will do. Mix it all up and set aside.
Using the same sauce, pour some of it into a baking dish and spread it evenly to cover the whole bottom of the dish.
Now, it's time to fill the peppers! Using a small teaspoon, just scoop the filling and start to fill the peppers til the top. Remember not to over stuff them.
Place them onto the baking dish. Use a spoon to press the filling into the peppers. Make sure that its packed in tight.
Then, top each of the peppers with some tomato/pasta sauce.
Pop it into a 350F oven and allow it to bake for about 50mins to an hour.
Remove the baking dish from the oven just about 5 minutes before it's done and sprinkle on some shredded cheese. Pop it back into the oven and allow the cheese to melt. Once the cheese is fully melted, the stuffed green peppers are done! I must say that it's really yummy to eat. Try it (even if you don't like peppers). How knows, you might learn to love them too!!

4 comments:

Heatherfeather said...

Looks easy and really good. I like bell peppers, but not usually the green ones as much unless they are cooked. Thanks for sharing - I will try this.

Charlene n Kevin said...

Yeah, they are really easy to make and realy good! =)

LY, H and our latest addition Master A said...

y tomato paste/sauce is needed to cover the bottom of the dish?

Charlene n Kevin said...

Well, I don't really know why. I was just following the recipe. Anyways, in my opinion, I think it's to prevent the bottom of the peppers from burning. Also, it taste really yummy if you eat the peppers with some of the tomato sauce. If you eat just the peppers, it can be a little dry.