These were truly stuffed with the garden! These are peppers from the garden with onion, carrot, garlic, and tomato from the garden as well. There are so many, many versions of stuffed peppers out there, but this one was different, and a little more work because I used our fresh tomatoes rather than opening jars of diced tomatoes and sauce. It was well worth the effort - one of those "food of love" dishes. Make it because you love the people who are eating it!Ingredients - all very flexible:
5-6 bell peppers, halved and seeded
I chose to precook these by placing them in a sprayed baking dish (9x13), and microwaving them for 3 minutes. Some people par-boil them instead, and some don't precook at all.
For the filling:
1 lb. lean ground beef, thoroughly cooked in a skillet along with one chopped onion and two chopped garlic cloves
3 C cooked rice - I used "sweet" brown rice, which is stickier than normal rice
2 shredded carrots
2-3 peeled, chopped tomatoes
2/3 C shredded cheese - I used sharp cheddar
Seasoning of your choice - I used 1 Tbs. parsley, 1 Tbs. paprika, 2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbs. brown sugar, 1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. celery seed, salt, pepper
Mix all of this together in a bowl. It's a good idea to taste this now, to see if it needs any tweaking. If it seems like it's not holding together very well, some recipes suggested adding an egg - like you would with meatloaf. Just do your tasting before the egg goes in!
For the sauce:
3-4 peeled tomatoes, chopped or torn into the same pan in which you browned your beef. Cook the sauce down until some of the liquid has evaporated. Then add a strange ingredient - about 1/4 C of catsup. I know! But it adds just the right punch to the sauce. Skip it if it turns you off!
Assembly:
Fill the precooked peppers with the beef and rice mixture; using your hands is the best way to do this. Set them back in the baking dish and then carefully ladle the tomato sauce down around the peppers, using a little bit of the sauce on top of each pepper as well. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the peppers are tender.
