Spring?

I hope is around the corner. The birds have come back and hopefully with them will come nice weather. There is still a bit of winter in the air as you can see by the snow flakes and the bluebird wondering if he made it to his desired destination or went waywardly in the wrong direction.

Chronic Bell Peppers

The other day, Pete was wanting me to use some of his ground beef that needed to be eaten before it went bad.


I didn't want the staple ground beef dinner ie: hamburgers, tacos, or chili.... I wanted to make something a bit more exciting.

City Market had green bell peppers for $.69 each so I had a few sitting on my counter and thought that I would try my hand at stuffed bell peppers since I have never made them before.

These are very easy to make and the results are quite YUMMY. Or in the words of Pete Giannini, CHRONIC.

So, if you have some ground beef laying around and want an alternative to the norms then this is a good recipe to try.

Ingredients

• 4 green or red bell peppers
• Salt
• 5 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 lb of lean ground beef
• 1 1/2 cup of cooked rice
  
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp of dried oregano
• Fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
• Dash of Cholula sauce

Method

1 Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, cut top off peppers 1 inch from the stem end, and remove seeds. Add several generous pinches of salt to boiling water, then add peppers and boil, using a spoon to keep peppers completely submerged, until brilliant green (or red if red peppers) and their flesh slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Drain, set aside to cool.

2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 4 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, add meat, rice, tomatoes, and oregano, and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix well.

3 Drizzle remaining 1 tbsp. Oil inside peppers, arrange cut side up in a baking dish, then stuff peppers with filling. Combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Cholula sauce, and 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl, then spoon over filling. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish. Place in oven and bake for 40-50 minutes .

You can always add the tops back on for a more finished look. I also added Parmesan cheese to the top as well.