Stuffed Peppers!

It's what was for dinner. I've been lazy in menu-planning, but this idea just popped into my head today, so after the gym I ran to the store, picked up some green peppers ($1 a piece!) and then looked up a recipe. It was a great base recipe, even though I made a couple of changes. It was easy to make, delicious, cheap and healthy. What more could I ask for?

I substituted brown rice for white rice. Mmmmm.

I don't normally like green peppers. They have a weird taste that isn't my favorite, but I steamed them before I stuffed them with the meat mixture. I think the steaming plus the baking helped take that weird taste away, leaving a mild, almost cucumberish flavor.

I was surprised how much I liked these! I'll definitely make these again.

Adapted from Stuffed Peppers at allrecipes.com

1lb ground beef (I had a little more)

Medium onion, chopped

3 tsp minced garlic

1 c. uncooked brown rice

1&1/2 c. water

1/2 c. chicken stock (I just made a ton of my own last week after roasting a chicken. I've been searching for ways to use it all up!)

6 green bell peppers

1 (15oz) cans of tomato sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

Parmesan cheese

salt & pepper to taste

pinches basil, oregano, paprika and thyme

1. Saute onion and garlic 2-3 minutes. Brown hamburger (I seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika), drain oil.

2. Cook brown rice in rice cooker according to directions. My directions say to cook 1 c. brown rice with 2 c. liquid (water and chicken stock, to add some more flavor). The original recipe says to only make a 1/2 c of rice, but my rice cooker has it's own little personality and "burns" the bottom of my rice, so I made a cup just to be safe.

3. Mix hamburger and rice until there is a good mix of what you want. I wanted to have a good ratio of rice to hamburger. I'd say I used about 3/4 c. of rice to my approx. 1.25 lbs of hamburger. Mix tomato sauce until good consistency (from my 15 oz can, I probably used about 3/4s of it. We use this to make pizza sauce, so I saved the rest.); then add Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and any seasonings your heart desires. I found some parm cheese in the back of our cheese/meats drawer, so I grated some of that and added it as well.

4. Rinse peppers, cut tops off and scoop insides out. Make sure they can stand up on their own and not tip over. Steam for 8-10 minutes (comments on the recipe said they could also be blanched with similar effects), then fill with meat mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the peppers are tender. Top with Parmesan cheese, and enjoy!

always, the grants