A Warm & Cozy Meal: My Stuffed Peppers Recipe

I posted photos of this on Instagram and Twitter (@alyseap) this weekend and I got great feedback :) Here is what I made this weekend, photos and full recipe included. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 Bell Peppers (try and make sure they are shaped nicely to sit upright and firm as well)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (you can use any rice you prefer)
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) of diced tomatoes (I used spicy tomatoes and it added a nice kick!)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1.5 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 Tbsp. EV Olive Oil
• 1 Tsp. Basil
• 1 Tsp. Oregano
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• Between 1-1.5 Lb.s Lean ground beef (I ended up using 1.15 Lbs. and it was perfect!)
• Optional Grated Cheddar Cheese to top off at the end

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Directions:

1. Wash your peppers and core out the insides removing all seeds and things of the sort. You can do so by slicing off just a bit of the top and scooping out everything else. 
2. Because we try not to waste anything, use some of the pieces of  pepper that you cut off from the top that may be salvageable (or some new pepper if you wish) to cut about a half cup of pepper for the sauce. 
3. In a large pot of salted water, add the peppers that you have cored out.  Bring them to a boil and let them simmer for about another 3-4 mins. Then remove and drain. 
4. Heat your olive oil in a pan and add in your chopped pepper pieces, onion and garlic until they are tender.  
5. Add in all of your tomato products (sauce, diced tomatoes, etc) along with your spices (oregano and basil, salt, pepper etc.) Cook this thoroughly in a simmer for about 8 minutes or until all of the flavors smell delicious and look well combined :)
6. Next we beat our egg with the Worcestershire sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add to that our ground meat and cooked rice and mix everything very well. Add in about 1.5 cups of the tomato mixture to help everything stick and come together and to seal all of the delicious flavors in. 
7. On your nonstick baking sheet or casserole dish, place all 4 peppers down and begin to fill them with the meat and rice mixture.  I make sure to press down gently while filling to make sure that there are no air pockets in the peppers that are missing some of this delicious mixture! 
8. Fill them to the brim and top off with the remainder of the tomato sauce mixture that you have left over--then place in the oven to bake for around 1 hour. 
9. When the timer goes off, I shut off the oven and sprinkled a nice portion of the grated cheddar cheese over the top and closed the oven again (with the heat off at this point)--there is still enough heat in the oven to melt the cheese ;)
10. Serve and enjoy!

*You can serve this with any side--add more plain rice to mix together or even serve with a baked potato or alone (how I had it)!

Any questions or clarifications, comment below or check out the "Contact Me" tab above for my email link!

Savory and Warm Meals,

xox