Stuffed Peppers

I, Chelsea Baker, will actually eat bell peppers when made this way. It's true! For those of you who do not know me, I am not into veggies. At all. I wish I loved them, but I don't. I'm trying, little by little though! These whip up pretty quickly. I've taken them a couple places and they tend to be a hit each time! At least I think they are... If not, my friends and family are all really good liars ;-) I know some people cut the tops out of the peppers and stuff them that way. That's fine, but that's not how I do them. I cut them length wise.  You end up with halves instead of the whole pepper. Much easier. I've done these with red and green bell peppers, and both are great. I think I like the green a little better, but the red come in at a very close second! Try 'em out!

Forgot to put the red pepper in there!

-1/2 lb. ground beef

-1/2 c. rice

-1/2 c. water

-1 c. spaghetti sauce

-1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

-parmesan cheese, for topping

-3 bell peppers

-garlic, salt, pepper- to taste

This recipe can easily be doubled if you are making these for many people as a meal. It can also be served as an appetizer! Brown your ground beef in a medium sauce pan (sauce pan is nice for when you add in the rest of the ingredients). While it's cooking, cut your peppers. You don't have to do this, but it makes them easier to cook/serve/eat. I cut them in half length wise (like little pepper boats). Remove the stems. I use a paring knife to do this. It also gets the seeds out at the same time. Rinse them out and set them aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After your hamburger is cooked, drain grease, if any. Add rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the water is gone. Stir in sauce. Season with garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. Stir in mozzarella cheese.

This is what it looks like before spooning into peppers.

Spoon mixture into peppers. Place peppers in a baking dish. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the edges of the peppers start to curl in a little. There will still be just a slight crispness to the peppers at this point. If you like them to be completely soft, bake for another 10 minutes.

before baking

oooohh, hello you

after baking

You can see how the edges are slightly curled inward in this picture = done!