Stuffed Peppers

By Maverick19

You can use regular bell peppers (any color) OR if you want to impress with an awesome appetizer plate, use the mini sweet peppers and impress all of your friends.

Ingredients

• 4 large bell peppers (any color) OR bag of mini peppers (around 20)
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped and diced
• 1 cup cooked rice (you can sub cous cous, bulgur wheat, etc)
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
• shredded mozzarella, or other cheese *optional

Preparation

Step 1

1. Cut thin slice from the stem of each pepper, to remove the tops. Remove seeds and membranes, rinse peppers. If necessary, cut thin slice from bottom of each pepper so that they stand up straight. (If you are using mini peppers, do not slice the bottoms).
2. In a 4 quart dutch oven, add enough water to cover the peppers. Heat the water to boiling, without the peppers. Once boiling, add the peppers. Cook for 3 minutes and drain.
3. In a 10 inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beef is brown; drain well. Stir in the rice, salt, garlic and 1 cup of the tomato sauce. Cook until heated through.
4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Stuff the peppers with the beef mixture. Stand the peppers upright in an ungreased 8 inch square, glass baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over peppers. (if you are making mini peppers, try using a 6-8 inch baking dish (round preferably). As you fill the peppers, stand them up alongside each other and they won't fall over)
6. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil. For mini peppers, bake another 15-20 minutes. For large peppers, bake another 45 minutes until peppers are really tender.
7. *If using cheese, sprinkle it over the peppers before serving.