Savory Stuffed Peppers

This is a dish I put off making for a while. When I was young my great grandmother, whom I called “Nanny” with much adoration, used to make stuffed peppers. I distinctly remember hating them. I was a no peppers-no rice-no anything green, kind of child. Like my dad. The dish that the rest of my family adored went against all of my taste buds at the time. It wasn't until only recently (as in the last 6 months) that I even began eating rice. And green peppers? I've been afraid to try them. The smell alone brought back memories of slyly pushing my cooked green peppers into a napkin.

That all changed last week. I figured with all of my eating habit changes it was time to give it a go. I don’t know my Nanny’s recipe so I searched the next best thing in this day and age, Pinterest. I found THIS tasty recipe but I have to admit, I made several changes.

Ingredients:

4 large green peppers (or yellow, orange, or red if you choose – I used some of each)
1 lb good quality ground beef
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 onion diced, red or white – I used red
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz cheese chunked (or 2 cups shredded) for the filling and to top with (I used mozzarella and provolone because that’s what I had on hand)
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil the bottom of an oven safe dish with olive oil.

1) Cut the tops off of your peppers. Trim the bottoms so they stand upright without making large holes in the pepper if possible. Place in dish. Discard the seeds and stem but save all usable pieces.

2) Chop up the pepper bits you just cut off. In a skillet, heat the olive oil and add the onion, garlic, and peppers to the pan. Sauté for about 5 minutes or so until the onion is translucent.

3) Place the sautéed veggies in a bowl and use the skillet to brown the ground beef. Once browned, return the veggies to the skillet.

4) Add the brown rice, 4 oz (or 1 cup shredded) cheese chunks, and salt and pepper. Mix well.

5) Stuff your raw peppers, pressing the filling down as you go. It should be just enough for all 4 peppers but if you have smaller peppers than I used, you may have extra. You can cook the extra in a ramekin.

6) Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove peppers and top with a generous amount of cheese. I used 1oz pre-sliced fresh mozzarella and it turned out sooooooo good! Bake for another 10 minutes or so until the cheese is thoroughly melted. You can even broil for a few minutes to give it some crispier brown spots on top.