Stuffed Bell Peppers

When I was out grocery shopping last week there was a great sale on green bell peppers that I couldn't resist. I had not had stuffed bell peppers in so long and when I saw them I knew I had to pick some up.

People ask me for recipes for some of the dishes I make and I always feel bad because I don't have exact recipes. The way I cook I don't always follow recipes and I don't always measure. (In fact I hardly ever measure if I am making something out of the blue) I am a type of cook that kind of wings it as I go along. I know what my family likes therefore I add/omit many things. ( A dash here, a handful there, you get the picture)

I've decided if I want to try and blog some of my dishes that I should at least try and keep a log of the ingredients and their measurements. (note i said try)

Anyways here is an estimation of ingredients and cooking times.

Ingredients: (for this dish was)

6 green bell peppers
approx 1 lb of ground beef
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 box of rice a roni (prepared as instructed on box)
1 can diced tomatoes, drain the juice
1/4 of an onion, diced
6 small to medium mushrooms
1 - 1.5 cups of shredded cheese (your choice)
1/2 cup black beans
small amt of oil
salt- to taste
pepper - to taste
tomato/chicken bouillon - to taste

Meat Mixture (stuffing for bell peppers)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Saute the garlic,mushrooms, and onion in oil until the mushrooms are almost tender.

2. Add the ground beef to the above mixture. Add salt, pepper, and tomato/chicken bouillon to taste. Cook until there is no pink left in the meat.

3. In the meantime start the rice a roni (follow the instructions on the box)

4. Once meat is cook drain the oil and add the diced tomatoes and black beans.

5. Turn heat to medium-low and stir the ingredients in the pan. Basically since everything is cooked this step is to warm the newly added ingredients with the meat.

6. After a couple minutes add the rice mixture to the ground been mixture. Stir everything together well.



Preparing Bell Peppers:

1. Wash the bell peppers.

2. Cut the tops off the bell peppers.

3. Cut and scrape out the membrane and seeds inside. Discard

4. In a baking dish place the 6 bell peppers on their bottoms. Add a small amount of cheese to inside of each bell pepper. (Basically you want to just cover the bottom of the part of the bell pepper in cheese)

5.Stuff the bell peppers with the meat and rice mixture all the way to the top.

6. Top off with cheese

7. Place about 1.5-2 cups of water in the baking dish. ( or just enough water to cover the bottom of the bell peppers so they don't burn and to help them cook)

8. Place in 350 degree oven for about 35-40 mins or until the peppers are tender.
(please note this cooking time is approximate)

Here is a picture of the finished bell peppers:

Here is the picture of what the inside looks like:
(this bell pepper is on my daughter's dish)

This is my first time writing a recipe online to share with others (or have others read). I am no way an expert on doing this.

Recipes are great to follow but always feel free to make dishes your own. If there is something in my dish that you don't like take it out. Want to add something different, go ahead. I'm all about experimenting and making up things with what I have on hand.

I hope you enjoy.