Stuffed peppers are a relatively easy meal to prepare with the added benefit of its intentional messiness. The more ingredients that spew out of the top, the more appetizing it looks. There’s no need to spend time making this one look “pretty.”
There are a lot of different variations of this recipe, and you can tweak it based on your taste buds. But I think the key is making sure you use all of the unusable ingredients you have in your house. Come on… We’ve all been there… You’re trying to squeeze one last meal out of your pantry before you have to take that inevitable trip to the grocery store. THIS is that meal. The ingredients used here I find I always have in the house. If for some reason you don’t find this to be true, there’s always room for substitution. The only MUSTs are the peppers and the cheese.
In fact, I remember stuffed peppers being one of the first dishes I experimented cooking with for that very reason. I was 18 years old and had just moved out of my parents’ house into an apartment with my then boyfriend. I was doing the typical— “trying to be an adult and live on my own, while at the same time having zero money because I was in college full time” thing. I had invited my parents over for dinner to prove how much of an adult I was before I realized I had no groceries in the house and absolutely no money to buy any! So, I scrounged up the measly ingredients I could find in my pantry and threw it all into a pepper! Turns out—it was a hit! This of course, would be my first of many attempts at fooling my parents into thinking I was an adult… (In case you’re wondering–I’m still trying.)
Yields: 4 peppers
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min
Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1 15 oz can stewed tomatoes
2 carrots, peeled, then shaved
2 stalks of celery, diced
5 mushrooms, diced
¼ cup parsley, chopped
1 small white onion, diced
¼ cup pine nuts, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tbsp olive oil
4 red bell peppers, cored
1. Core peppers and discard tops and seeds.
2. Cook peppers in large pot of boiling water for ~5 minutes. Drain.
3. Preheat oven to 350.
4. Heat pan and add oil and garlic until fragrant over medium heat. Add onion and cook ~3 minutes or until tender. Add carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Cover, cooking additional 3 minutes.
5. Meanwhile cook rice.
6. Add parsley and pine nuts to vegetables and cook 3-5 minutes. Drain any water from pan. Add rice and tomatoes cooking an additional 3-5 minutes.
7. Place vegetables in separate bowl and mix in cheddar cheese.
8. Spoon mixture into bell peppers.
9. Bake at 350 ~15 minutes.
10. Top with parmesan cheese.
The Cook’s 2 cents:
· The peppers you use should be able to stand up. Sometimes I buy peppers that are lopsided and the bottom of my oven ends up with the meal instead of me.
· When coring the peppers, be careful not to pierce their sides. I’ve often gotten a bit overzealous when coring causing my insides to be on the outside.
· This is a great make ahead dinner. The longer the stuffing sits together, the better the flavor melds.
· Five mushrooms seem like a lot when they are all diced, but it’s the right amount for the flavor.
· One option is to not use the rice (sometimes I do this when I’d rather use my calories for extra cheese). Keep in mind though, the rice absorbs a lot of the liquid. So, your end result will be a little watery even if you make sure all the liquid is drained. If you’re looking for less carbs, I’d recommend just cutting the rice down instead of cutting it out altogether.
· My recipe calls for peeled, then shaved carrots. Before I started school, I found this was a very easy way to cut carrots. Simply peel the outer layer with a vegetable peeler, then continue peeling the rest of the carrot with peeler. It gives the vegetable a thin cut so it cooks well.
· The boiling of the peppers is an important step to get the right texture. Don’t neglect this part of the recipe.
Nutrition Facts:
Serving size: 1 pepper Servings per recipe: 4
Calories: 478 Fat: 29g Sodium: 462mg Carbs: 29g Fiber: 6g Sugars: 15g Protein: 19g
