Stuffed Peppers

I had never even heard of stuffed peppers until a couple weeks ago when this recipe came to me from my adopted blogger mom, Anne. She writes A Good American Wife, which is a food blog with a great sense of humor and she has an excellent palet. If she says a dish is good, it is so. This Cooking Light recipe for Stuffed Peppers that she made looked so good, I gave it a shot myself.
Start by rinsing two green bell peppers.
Slice in half.
Clean insides of membrane and seeds.
Chop one jalanapeno
I thought the top of this little pepper was so cute, like a little hat.

Chop one onion and saute with jalapeno and minced garlic over medium heat. Sauté 5 minutes or until onion is lightly browned.
1/4 cup rice. The recipe calls for Jasmine rice which I did not have, so I used whole grain brown rice.

Add rice to hot skillet and cook for two minutes, stirring frequently.

Add 1/2 cup chicken broth

Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cool completely.

I had this in my fridge and thought this recipe would be a good time to use it up.
I used Parmigiano Reggiona and hand grated about 1/2 cup.
Combine cheese and tomato sauce.
Add one large beaten egg.

This is another of my additions. Chopped green onions.
Add 1/2 pound ground meat.
Add rice and onion mixture. Mix well...but don't overwork because it will make the ground meat tough.
Many of the reviews I read online said thier peppers turned into soup bowls while cooking so I made two small slits in the bottom of each of my peppers so the liquid would drain out.

1/4 cup of the meat and rice mixture goes into each pepper.
Then top with more of the tomato sauce.
Cover and bake at 400° for 45 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese; bake 3 minutes or until cheese melts. The slits in the bottom worked well here to help drain the liquid.
I served this homemade beer bread and a glass of wine.

Inside, the meat mixture is cooked through. The rice acted like filler and the onions and garlic gave a subtle flavor. Next time I make this I would add more cheese to the meat mixture, and maybe a 1/2 tablespoon of italian seasoning mix to the meat would have added the burst of flavor I wanted. This was a really easy recipe and if you use pre-made items in your fridge I bet you could have them assembled and in the oven in 15 minutes since you don't have to brown the meat, just soften the veggies.

The little pepper stem was all that I left on my plate. Delish! Thank you Anne!