Stuffed peppers are awesome. Why? because they basically come in their own delicious edible, portable, container. stuffed to the brim with all manner of fillings from rice and ground beef, to veggie sausage and potatoes, to quinoa and peas, to curry chicken and pilaf and … i mean please let me stop here because the list is literally endless. What tastes good with peppers? Just about anything. Point blank. end of discussion.  you could practically dip it in chocolate and it will taste amazing. well, maybe not, but im sure someone out there has tried! (and if you have, give me a holler because I want to know what its like!)

Today i give a lesson on stuffed peppers 101.

The Veggie Stuffed Pepper

This is one of the mack daddies of stuffed peppers because its so easy to make and so affordable you can practically rub two nickles together and you have yourself a meal. okay again, i exaggerate but you get the idea, a few things here and there and you have yourself a wholesome delicious meal that maybe beckons a small salad on the side, maybe a some good cheese to sprinkle on the top but all in all its a one package veggie deal. and you cant help but to dance in your shoes about how good you feel for making so little go so so far.

so what makes a tasty stuffed pepper? you might ask. then i might answer, well you need a carb, like rice, yellow rice, for color. then you need fillings, for a veggie stuffed pepper you want to go with a bit of zucchini, maybe some corn, some beans for protien, you can even throw in some carrots if you have them. nice round flavor that adds, not to mention more color. (i didn’t have any good ones today so that’s going in the next batch i make)

See herein lies the beauty in the stuffed pepper: Ability to adapt to whats available. why run to the store and get a million gagillion ingredients that your only going to use once and then only use a tiny fraction of the product that you paid full price for? WHY?! get it together peoples. start stuffing peppers.

Oh and by the way the recipe that I am including in this post is merely a rough guide, ideas if you will, as to what you may or may not want to add to your perfectly personal and transportable stuffed pepper. Don’t fret, no tomato sauce, use diced tomatoes, no diced tomatoes, use ketchup, get my drift? think outside of the box grasshopper and you will always have it your way.

Buen provecho.

 

Veggie Stuffed Blackened Roasted Peppers

Serves 4 or 2 if your hungry

2 whole large round bell peppers

3 tbsp oil

1 zucchini cut into 1/2 in cubes

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can red kidney beans or pinto

1 small can corn

1 tsp Italian seasoning or herbs de Provence

1/2 tsp oregano

2 cups cooked yellow rice (recipe for yellow rice coming soon)

1 -14oz can tomato sauce

salt and pepper to taste

4 slices of Swiss cheese or provolone

 

Preheat oven to 350

On a large burner turn the heat up to high and start blackening the peppers whole on all sides.

Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan on medium high heat. Add oil and zucchini and saute until browning on the edges. Add corn, beans, garlic, herbs and cooked rice and stir to incorporate evenly and heat through. Then add 1 cup of tomato sauce.

When peppers are black on all sides (the blacker the better flavor), remove from burner and let cool for 5 to 10 min. slice in half and remove the inner bulb and seeds. Stuff peppers with rice mix. Cover each stuffed pepper with 1 slice of cheese and 2 tbsp of tomato sauce. Pour the rest of tomato sauce into the bottom of oven safe dish and arrange the peppers to fit comfortably in the dish.

Bake for 18-22 min or until cheese is melted and peppers heated through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: easy dishes under $10, stuffed peppers, stuffed veggie peppers, vegetables

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 11:55 am and is filed under Under $10. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.