Stuffed Peppers

This dish is one of my hubby's favorite meals.  He and a friend of his have a running joke about these peppers.  A few years back my husband was on a job where he used to bring his lunch and the guys used to drool over the leftovers he brought into work.  These particular peppers were quite the hit and the guys were going home to their wives complaining that they wanted  these for dinner.

Anyway...this is a really easy dish and very comforting on a cold day.

Here is what you will need:

• 5 large green peppers
• 2 lbs lean ground beef (90% lean or better)
• 2 cups cooked white rice
• Home made Tomato sauce Click here for the recipe for Tomato sauce.
• (you could used jarred sauce...if your pressed for time)
• 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper

(crazy kid!)

Cut the top of the pepper off and scoop out the insides

Place the peppers into a pot of boiling water and let simmer covered for 10 minutes.

Prepare white rice according to the package. I used Jasmine rice as I find it to very flavorful.  

Once the rice is done keep warm until its time to stuff the peppers.

Now heat up your tomato sauce, if you are not making home made sauce.

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet and add one medium chopped onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic along with the 2 lbs of lean ground beef.

Saute the meat until it is completely cooked (there will be no meat that is pink)

Now this step it totally optional. I like to drain the excess fat off the meat.  So I use a hand strainer seen below and drain the fat into the sink.

(you can get this great gadget from Bed Bath and Beyond for less than ten dollars)

Now add 2 cups of the cooked white rice to the drained meat. 

Now add the tomato sauce. The amount of sauce you add is really up to you. I added about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of sauce...we like our peppers really flavorful.

Next mix the ingredient's together and let simmer for a few minutes.

Now take a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish and spread about a 1/2 inch of tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Now start to stuff each pepper.  I like to fill the peppers all the way to the top!

Grate some fresh Parmesan cheese.

Take the cheese and sprinkle it over the top of the peppers.  

You could always use Mozzarella cheese too.

Now bake the peppers covered with tin foil for about 35 - 45  minutes on 350.

If you are not going to cook the peppers right away and plan to put them in the fridge till later you will have to bake them longer.  I would add about 15  to 20 minutes minutes onto the baking time if they are coming from the fridge.

There you have a great meal...that is very healthy too!