Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is my own recipe derived from a handful of online recipes. I was very pleased with the outcome.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 lb. Lean Burger
1 Large Zucchini
2 – 3 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
¼ - ½ Large Sweet Onion
4 Campari (smaller) Tomatoes
3 – 4 Peppers (Whatever you like for heat and flavor)
4 – 5 Large Bell Peppers (Any color)
Mozzarella & Monterey Jack Cheese (Shredded)
1 Small Can of Tomato Sauce
1 Bag of Mahatma Wild Rice
Salt & Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Olive Oil

Prepare Bell Peppers by removing the stem, top, and seeds. Lightly coat them with olive oil and place in baking pan. Preheat oven to 350. Place prepped (empty/peppers only) bell peppers in oven to begin cooking. Remove the peppers from the oven when they are about ¾ cooked (lightly wrinkled, flexible, still holding form). Cooking to ¾ should take approximately 30 min.

Brown 1 lb. of lean Burger (or venison) and remove from heat once browned. Drain any grease from the burger.

Chop Zucchini, Onion, Tomatos, and Peppers.

Sauté 3 tablespoons of minced garlic in about 2 – 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add chopped zucchini, onion, tomatoes, peppers, and 1 small can of tomato sauce into sautéed garlic and olive oil. Add salt, black pepper, mozzarella (2 – 3 ‘pinches’), and red pepper flakes to taste (add extra pepper flakes, heat taste will reduce once other ingredients are added). Simmer the reduction until all vegetables are fully cooked and soft.

Prepare bag of Mahatma wild rice (makes about 2 - 3 cups).

Once all the vegetables in the tomato sauce reduction are fully cooked, and the taste is where you want it (remember extra spice will decrease with the addition of the burger and rice), add the 1 lb. of browned burger to the mix along with the entire pot of cooked wild rice (2 – 3 cups). Stir the filling mixture thoroughly and lightly simmer to reheat all ingredients. Add more salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Ensure that the filling mixture retains some tomato sauce liquid to prevent the filling mixture from being too dry once added to the bell peppers and cooked in the oven.

Once the bell peppers are (pre-) cooked enough, begin filling the peppers with the mixture. Layer Monterey Jack cheese and mozzarella cheese into the peppers while adding the filling mixture. Once the bell peppers are full, top them with a ‘pinch’ of Monterey Jack cheese.
After filling all the bell peppers, return them to the oven to melt the cheese, reheat all ingredients, and finishing cooking the bell peppers to appropriate tenderness (but still holding form).

Serve. Enjoy. Drink. Be Merry.

that looks really good! nice job

Love these. Use cauliflower rice to make a low carb version.

Hard to beat stuffed bell peppers, no matter the recipe

Love those!

I love them little things. That sounds like a good recipe. Been thinking about doing a Philly cheese steak one.

Looks great. I like to use ground sausage (or 1/2 beef/1/2 pork sausage) in place of beef.....just a little more flavor.

We love those and those look great. No tomato sauce though?

Mrs. Irish actually makes a Tex/Mex version that is vegetarian and uses black beans and rice for the main part of the stuffing.

Love um!! Gotta have some tomato though...

Oh yeah, there is tomato sauce in it. That's what keeps the stuffing juicy, along with chopped tomatos. I saw several recipes that called for various types of beans like you mentioned. A Tex/Mex variety of stuffed peppers would be good. I think you could tailor them to whatever genre you wanted.

I love these things, we usually leave out the rice though..