The Red Pepper Incident.

Oh my! It's been a while since I updated my blog! I do so apologize! The past week has been crazy busy! My teaching job is slowly becoming more demanding and I'm putting in all the effort I can! I love my students so much :) Today we made greeting cards that focused on the characteristics of a healthy relationship and they all turned out so good!


On the up side, I made a yummy dinner for Jake Monday night in celebration of FINALLY getting all the work done on the car! Now it's all up to date with fresh oil change and new tags! How wonderful :)


As a surprise, I made him STUFFED RED PEPPERS! I have made stuffed squash in the past, something I <3 <3 <3, but turns out he does NOT <3 <3 <3...but he does love stuffed peppers!! 


So let's see what I did here:


2-4 Big red peppers (I use three so he would have left overs for work lunch)
Ground beef, however much you want really. I used the left overs we had, about half of a pack.
1 cup rice, already cooked
1 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
Cheddar cheese
bread crumbs
1 can diced tomatoes
Herbs and Spices




To start, I preheated the over to 350 degrees. 

Beef, red pepper, onion and garlic

Then I chopped up the onion and the garlic and added it to a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. Add the ground beef.


While that was all stewing together, I cut the tops off the peppers and clean the insides out. I then used what little red pepper was still on the tops, chopped it up and added it to the meat. Place the peppers in a dish and drizzle with olive oil. I added a dash of salt and pepper too.

Peppers ready to be stuffed!

As the beef concoction was cooking, I started the rice. Bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice to a boil. Once it's boiling, turn the burner off, cover and let sit. Don't open the lid too often, however, try and keep all the heat and steam in!


By this time, the meat and veggies should be pretty far along. Add the can of tomatoes, juice and all! I used diced tomatoes with garlic and herbs that I had left over from chili last week. Turn down the heat a tad and let simmer for a while, until the rice is done. Once the rice is done, add it to the meat and let it all simmer together, absorbing all those wonderful flavors!

Beef, onion, garlic, peppers, spices and tomatoes!

Going into the oven!

This is the point where you can add what spices you want. I am OBSESSED with garlic powder (yes, even though there is garlic IN it too). I like garlic powder, chili powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and a bit of cayenne pepper (because Jake likes it HOT, HOT, HOT!). 


Bake the peppers at 350 for about half an hour. You can bake them for more if you'd like but I like my peppers a little on the crispy side. I topped mine with a slice of cheddar cheese and bread crumbs towards the end to give it that little extra OOMPH! 


ENJOY!

The final product! Coupled by mashed potatoes!

I'm hoping on making some delicious treats soon, so I will be posting all about those!