Stuffed Peppers

Yes, it does seem like I have a trend going on, since my last post was for Stuffed Tomatoes. I'll call the theme, "Janet is Stuffed".

I made some stuffed peppers for dinner on Saturday night. I have always wanted to make stuffed peppers, but never did because Mario told me he wasn't a big fan. I think I may have converted him, since he really loved this meal. By the way, I think this can be construed to mean that I am a better cook than Mario's Mom, since she obviously failed at the art of stuffed peppers.

Claire and Marco, as was expected, ate all the filling and left the peppers behind. That was OK, except I gave them the coloured peppers (because I thought they'd like them better than the green ones). I had to take out a second mortgage to buy the coloured peppers, so it was unfortunate that they were wasted. Next time, I'll just give them a spoonful of filling and forget the peppers. There is enough healthy stuff in the filling anyway. But, all is not lost, maybe they will grow up and marry people that make even better stuffed peppers, like Mario did.


Stuffed Peppers
from the New Dieters Cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens

4 medium green pepper (make sure they can stand on their own)
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup long grain rice
1 cup water
fresh thyme and summer savoury
salt and pepper
2 tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup Monterrey Jack Cheese

1. Cut tops of peppers and scoop out insides. Boil for three minutes in a large pot of salted water. Drain upside down on paper towels.

2. Brown beef with onions, drain excess fat. Add fresh herbs (Note: the recipe called for 1/2 tsp each of dried oregano and basil, but I happened to have fresh thyme and summer savoury, so I used that, and it was very good).

3. Add 1 cup of water and rice. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered until the rice is tender (about 18 minutes).

4. Stir in diced tomatoes.

5. Stuff peppers and place in a baking dish with the pepper lids. If you have extra filling just scoop it into the dish around the peppers. Sprinkle 1 generous tbsp (ie., 3 tbsp) of grated cheese on each pepper. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.