So, tonight for dinner I made a new (to me) one. The wife has made it several times and it’s always a hit with the kids. I think her original recipe was entitled Santa Fe Stuffed Peppers. This takes out a bit of the spice and she’s not a huge fan of black beans (which I would have included). Everything here came from Aldi, except the slices of white American cheese. We just had that on hand, and no shredded cheese. It worked well.
Our 3 year old daughter wolfed down about a pepper and a half worth of filling, skipping the outer pepper for some reason. (She would possibly eat it all, or just the reverse tomorrow.) She said that we should have it every night for dinner. I noted that she really likes these, and her mom’s homemade Manwich-like sloppy joes, and that we should start a food truck that specializes in ground meat and call it “Ground Around Town.” She said we have to paint it pink. I asked if she wanted to cook or wash dishes. She chose cooking.
Out of all the stuff you think kids might be picky about, they gobble this up. (3 yo & 18mo). I like these better than the more traditional meatball w/ rice stuffed in a green pepper & covered in spaghetti sauce or tomato soup. For some reason, I can dig the rice & ground meat mixed… but I do not like rice in meatballs. The red, yellow, & orange peppers are very sweet too. I like them more than the green ones. Also, if you mention that you like your peppers stuffed with sausage, you can just close this tab and move on.
These were really easy to make…
- 2 cups Fit & Active Brown Rice (Cooked)
- 1 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 lbs. ground beef (we have used Turkey before, from Giant Eagle)
- 6 red, yellow, or orange peppers
- 6 slices of white american cheese (or whatever kind you like)
All I did was…
Cook the rice & set it aside. I used the liquid from the can of tomatoes & a beef bullion cube in the water.
Cut the tops off of the peppers, pull out seeds & weird white stuff off of the inside. (Bethany parboils them first, I didn’t. I liked them a bit crunchier.)
Brown the ground beef, season to taste. I added onion powder, garlic powder, & seasoned-salt. (We have also used ground turkey for this. It’s delicious.)
Mix the fire-roasted diced tomatoes into the ground meat after draining the fat off.
Mix the rice & beef/tomatoes together.
Put the peppers in a glass baking dish. Pack the peppers with the tasty rice & beef goodness. Two didn’t stand up well on their own, so I made little foil stands.
I cooked them in a preheated oven at 375° for 20 minutes, then added the slices of cheese for 5 minutes.
Like I said, Bethany parboils the peppers so they’re a bit softer, so she cooks it at 325° for 20-25 minutes.
Next time, if I make this, I may cook the rice in tomato paste or other tomato flavoring, and add the black beans. Not sure what the kids would think. Maybe a little bit of heat would be nice too? This reminds me of Spanish rice in a pepper.
Do you make anything similar? Do you do stuffed peppers a different way? Do you stuff acorn squash like this? Do you do different seasonings? Make ’em meatless? (Toasted garbanzo beans & black beans might be really good in this!) Let me know in the comments!
World (and Lunar) Domination 