The garden is rather small this year: six tomato plants and six bell pepper plants. But those twelve plants are "going gangbusters" as I remarked on a friend's Facebook discussion about gardening. Kristin saw my comment and replied, "Ben needs to come live with you as you are mass producing his two favorite veggies."
It's true. My 5-year-old grandson adores tomatoes and peppers and will eat them like candy! (He can put a serious dent in a veggie tray. ~smile~)
So we brought Ben a "party favor" when we went to Maddie and Owen's birthday party last Sunday...a bag of his favorite veggies!
The next morning, Ben asked his mama if he could have a pepper for breakfast. Then he said, "You really need to figure out how to make these and stuff them with meat."
I told you last year that I will always associate blueberries with Eve and "the best day of her life." Now I will associate green peppers with Ben.
This week's recipe is a tribute to Ben: peppers stuffed with meat!
STUFFED PEPPERS
6 medium green peppers
1 pound lean ground beef
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
1 1-pound can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
* * *
Cut off tops of 6 medium green peppers; remove seeds and membranes.
Cook ground beef and onion until meat is lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper.
Add diced tomatoes, water, rice, and Worcestershire sauce.
Cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 18 minutes.
Stir in shredded cheese.
Stuff peppers with the beef mixture; stand upright in a baking dish.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
NOTES:
- If you prefer your peppers soft, precook them in boiling water for about 5 minutes before you stuff them. I like them crisp, so I omit this step.
- I like to add a little extra cheese to the top before baking.
- If you are short on peppers (we were, as we had used 24 peppers to make pepper relish and then had taken Ben his "party favors"), you can place the meat/rice mixture (we call it the "stuffed") into a greased baking dish, and lay pepper strips over the top. This week, I combined the two techniques and my dish really looked like this:
Kind of a hybrid.
What's your favorite summer vegetable?
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Looking for a recipe from another week?
Week 1: Marinade for Chicken
Week 2: Black Bean Salad
Week 3: Cappuccino Pops
Week 4: Roasted Sausage and Vegetable Pasta
Week 5: Easy-Freezy Vanilla Ice Cream
Week 6: Farm Fresh Corn Chowder
Week 7: Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Week 8: Jill's Dill Dip
Week 9: Apricot Upside-Down Cake
Or last year?
Fruit on Tuesday Week 10: Bostonian Blueberry Muffins
Or two years ago?
Salad on Tuesday Week 10: Caprese Salad
Tomatoes, I think, even though they are a fruit. I like green peppers, too. Tomatoes I like both raw and cooked. Green peppers only raw, not cooked. If I cook'em, I blend'em. What a cute kid Ben is! And I love that he thought he was reinventing the wheel there with a stuffed pepper idea. LOL!
ReplyDeleteYour hybrid looks cute. I am going to pin this as my husband l o v e s stuffed peppers and I probably have only made them once. He orders it in Mexican restaurants. But I need to try this!
ReplyDeleteWell this confirms what we are having for dinner tonight. I have been hungry for stuffed green peppers for a while now. Sounds soo good. My favorite? Soo hard I love them all....I guess I will go with tomatoes, though peppers, cucumbers, and corn are all pretty close. Enjoy your day!
ReplyDeleteOh, that Ben is adorable and such a boy...MEAT! haha That looks rather tasty. Good one, Cheryl.
ReplyDeleteBen and I would get along just fine when it came to green peppers... He can have the bulk of them! haha I like a *hint* of green pepper, but not a big bite. So when my husband requests stuffed peppers (a favorite of his) I cringe. Now that I've seen your casserole version I'll know what to do. I'll pile the peppers up on one end for him, and sprinkle a little bit on the other end for me! Thank you for resolving a marital struggle for us ;-)
ReplyDeleteI love stuffed peppers and am so sad that my bells are a near utter failure. I'd love to make these. I suppose I could buy them at the farmers market. Love it that the cute little fella enjoys his veggies. Someone's starting good habits young! :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are speaking my love language here with your food! Yum!
ReplyDeleteI love tomatoes and zucchini. I have not had stuffed peppers since I have been married, 25 years. My mom made them. Hubby is not keen on peppers. Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteJanet
I like the hybrid! I'm going to try that next time as not everyone in my family is fond of the peppers part of stuffed peppers :)
ReplyDeleteOk, this does it! I'm going to have to make stuffed peppers ASAP! I've been craving them for some reason but haven't made them since they are not a big hit with my boys. But yours look sooo good and i think they would even like them since it's got cheese on the top! :)
ReplyDelete