Cooking...

Stuffed Bell Peppers

One of our trips took us to Asheville where we raided my parent's garden and came home with TONS of produce!  I have been making lots of things and probably should have been writing them down because they were good, and I can never remember what I did later since I always put together several recipes.

Here is what I remember of the recipe I made (note - I just added lots of things because we had them... it would probably be good without most of these ingredients.  Measurements are estimates.)
2 cups uncooked rice
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup shredded summer squash
2 diced banana peppers
1 diced onion
4 jalapenos (seeded if they are too hot)
1lb ground beef
2 tomatoes
1/2 cup cilantro
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (more to taste)
1 cup spaghetti sauce (marinara)
3 egg whites
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta
5-6 large bell peppers

* Cook rice in rice maker
* Saute carrots, squash, banana peppers, onion, 2 cloves garlic till soft
* In the meantime chop off tops of bell peppers and cut off the good part of the tops and throw in the saute.  Remove ribs and seeds.  Place in a oven safe casserole dish with some water and put in a preheated oven of 400 for 5-10 minutes.
* Add the ground beef to the sauteed veggies and cook until done.
* Make the fresh salsa - Dice the tomatoes, 2 jalapenos, cilantro, garlic, oregano, and cumin
* Add most of the rice (leave about 1/2-1 cup cooked rice to add if you feel like you need it) to the veggie - meat mixture.
* Add spaghetti sauce, egg whites, salt, pepper, feta, some extra cumin and oregano for taste, and 3/4 of the salsa mixture.  If it is too watery or it looks like you need more rice... and the rice you set aside.  If not keep it for something else.
* Spoon mix into peppers.  Put the extra mix (there will be left over!) in a loaf pan.  Put in oven for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!  Elizabeth (she is now eating real food!), Nathan, and I sure did