Stuffed Bell Peppers (Edit)

Yield

4 servings

Ingredients

  • 4 bell peppers (if planning on cooking whole, buy 6 instead)

  • ½ lb ground beef or sausage

  • ½ or 1 yellow onion, diced

  • 1 sm. container mushrooms, minced

  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 Tbsp italian seasoning

  • ½ cups prepared rice or quinoa

  • shredded cheese (cheddar, colby jack, or mexican)

  • 1 can tomato sauce

Directions

  • Preheat oven at 375F.

  • Prep bell peppers by cutting in half (if using 4 and want more filling to pepper ratio) or removing the top so bell peppers are “standing” whole.

  • Take out seeds and membrane. Rub with oil, salt, and pepper and then put in oven to precook for 15-20 minutes. (you want them to start getting soft when you fill them, but not fully soft yet)

  • Saute meat, onion, mushroom, garlic, and seasoning. Add salt and pepper if you’re using plain ground beef. Also add tidbits of spare bell pepper from previous steps if you have any.

  • While the meat is browning, cook quinoa or rice according to package EXCEPT, if you want more flavor in the quinoa, cook it with chicken stock.

  • Once meat is brown, add tomato sauce to make sure the consistency is smooth and moist. (Do not skip this step! If you don’t like tomato, don’t worry, you can’t taste it.)

  • Mix in quinoa or rice plus a little cheese. Taste the mixture and make sure it’s well seasoned (or tastes the way you want it to). If it doesn’t add more spices and keep tasting until it reaches desired flavor.

  • Stuff peppers with filling then top with cheese.

  • Bake at 375F for another 15-20 minutes.