Since peppers are so cheap at the farmer’s market I wanted to do a simple and healthy meal for a fast Wednesday night dinner. (Gotta have time to watch Top Chef, ya know?!?) I thought about stuffed peppers and so went to my new favorite website (other than Deb’s) to find a simple and delicious recipe, Simply Recipes! Auntie Helen just loves that site and little by little I am becoming enamored too! Elise’s dad knows where its at when it comes to peppers, as it was a great combination of flavors. Although I could have kicked up the garlic amount or probably just added a ton more salt and it would have been absolute flavor perfection!

The green peppers are four for a dollar at the JFX farmer’s market right now and I love being about to converse in Spanish with the granjeros! And instead of choosing ground beef, Ned and I picked out some ground bison meat at Wegman’s to switch it up a bit. My favorite part was the ketchup/worchestershire/cholula topping- such great flavor. I think next time we make these I’m going to put that throughout the whole filling! So now we are off to watch Top Chef, Go Kevin!!! Check out the recipe here or below…

Ingredients:

4 green or red bell peppers
Salt
5 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 lb of lean ground beef (I used ground bison meat!)
1 1/2 cup of cooked rice or 3/4 cup of raw instant rice
1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned (I used canned fire roasted tomatoes)
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp of dried oregano (fresh from the farmers market!)
Fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
Dash of Tabasco sauce (Cholula!)

Directions:
1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, cut top off peppers 1 inch from the stem end, and remove seeds. Add several generous pinches of salt to boiling water, then add peppers and boil, using a spoon to keep peppers completely submerged, until brilliant green (or red if red peppers) and their flesh slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Drain, set aside to cool.

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 4 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, add meat, rice, tomatoes, and oregano, and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix well. (I actually cooked the meat at this point, about 5 more minutes on medium heat)

3) Drizzle remaining 1 tbsp. Oil inside peppers, arrange cut side up in a baking dish, then stuff peppers with filling. Combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl, then spoon over filling. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish. Place in oven and bake for 40-50 minutes (or longer, depending on how big the peppers are that you are stuffing), until the internal temperature of the stuffed pepper is 150-160°F.