Something Savory #9: Stuffed Peppers

Do you have certain dishes that you like to eat, but your spouse/significant other/family/etc doesn't like? My husband and I have surprisingly similar tastes in food. We enjoy a lot of the same restaurants and have almost identical favorite foods. We are almost 100% compatible food-wise. There's just one little thing...my husband hates anything with peppers and onions. Now he likes spicy food, and loves adding spices to food (including crushed pepper or onion powder). But he just hates the texture of onions and peppers. I, on the other hand, love anything and everything with peppers and onion. Off the top of my head, I can think of about a dozen restaurants where my go to dish includes peppers and onions. We've learned to find ways for us both to get what we want in dishes we cook, but we never make anything where the peppers/onions are the star of the show.

Last week, though, my husband was out of town for work. He was getting in late, so I decided to experiment in the kitchen with something that only I would like. Last time he was gone, I experimented with an onion and pepper filled cajun chicken pasta. I went in a different direction this time, but kept the onions and peppers. My experiment turned out well, so today I am bringing you my next installment of my Something Savory series - Stuffed Peppers!

I had never actually tried stuffed peppers before cooking this, but the recipes I found online sounded so good. I had to try it out. My verdict? Delicious! I love the beef, rice, marinara sauce combination seasoned with delicious Italian seasonings. You can add different vegetables to suit your taste, I added squash, zucchini, peppers, and onions. This is definitely a recipe I will make again. My non-vegetable loving husband would have a hard time with this dish, so I will save it for when I want to have a special treat just for me!

This dish is easy to make, there's just quite a bit involved in the process. To speed it up a little, I cooked the rice the night before. We got a rice cooker as a wedding gift, and it has proved to be a great kitchen tool! We use the cooker a lot, and the rice really turns out great. It took a couple times to get it down just right, but we are really pleased with the results now.

Here's my recipe for stuffed peppers!

Stuffed Pepper ingredients:

• 7 green bell peppers (one is for cutting up to go in the recipe, the others are for stuffing)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 small zucchini (substitute with your favorite vegetable)
• 1 small squash (substitute with your favorite vegetable)
• 1/8 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp ground pepper

Stuffed Pepper directions:

• Cook rice before starting the peppers, or even the night before.
• Preheat oven to 350F
• Wash and cut the top off 6 green peppers. Clean out the seeds and membranes from inside.

• Also chop up 1/8 cup onion and any additional vegetables going in the recipe (zucchini, squash, peppers, etc)
• Place them in a pot or dutch oven and cover with water, boil for 2 minutes.
• Drain peppers and set to side
• Brown hamburger meat on medium-high heat with onions until meat is cooked through

• Drain and pat meat dry to remove excess grease
• Place meat back in skillet and add in additional chopped vegetables, heat on low-medium heat until vegetables are tender.

• Mix together marinara sauce, meat/vegetables, and cooked rice in a bowl

• Add spices and continue to mix together
• Place peppers in a baking dish and stuff with mixture
• Pour the rest of the marinara sauce over the top of the peppers
• Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes.
• Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes
• Sprinkle on cheese and bake for a final 5 mins (you can also put the cheese on after getting them out of the oven)
• Let cool slightly and then take out of the dish and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy this delicious recipe, it's sure to be a hit with your friends and family (unless they are like my husband). Ha!