Friday, December 28, 2012

Stuffed Peppers

I figured that since I recently did a post on a recipe fail, I thought I would write a post on a recipe success! Last year for Christmas I received a gluten-free cook book from my sister Stacey and there is a recipe in there for stuffed peppers that I absolutely love. I've made it a bunch of times now and each time I remember why I love it. Easy, healthy and tasty.

Quinoa Rice Stuffed Peppers

1 large orange bell pepper
1 large yellow bell pepper
1 tomato, sliced into four think slices
1/4 c. dry white wine
1 c. shredded Swiss cheese

8 oz. extra-lean ground beef, turkey or chicken
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 c. sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 tomato, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 c. cooked quinoa (or rice)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Cut orange and yellow peppers in half lengthwise and remove core and seeds. Trim a thin slice off the bottom of each to allow them to lie flat. In the casserole dish, microwave peppers, covered, on High for 3 minutes or until tender-crisp. Let cool to room temperature, covered. Drain and pat dry.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, over medium heat, brown ground beef until no pink remains. Add onion, red pepper, mushrooms, rosemary and thyme; cook, stirring, until onion are translucent, about 3 minutes. Drain off any fat. Add chopped tomato and zucchini and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Stir in quinoa (rice), salt and pepper. 

In the casserole dish, arrange tomato slices and add wine. Set each pepper half, cut side up, on a tomato slice. Fill each pepper half with the beef mixture, mounding the stuffing. Cover and bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until bell peppers are fork-tender. Uncover, top with Swiss cheese and bake, uncovered, for 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted. 

(Substitute 1 cup undrained chopped canned tomatoes for the fresh tomato slices and white wine.)

The recipe calls for quinoa but I usually use rice. I may be brave one of these days though and actually try it with the quinoa but for now I'm happy with my tried and true recipe.

First you cut up all the veggies and fry them with the ground beef.

Once all the insides are nicely cooked, you add your rice and mix it all up.

To prep your peppers for being stuff, you cut them in half and clean out the insides. Then you microwave them for 4 minutes or so until they are beginning to soften.

Once the peppers are soft, you put them in the pan and fill them up with the stuffing.

The only problem is, there is normally a heck of a lot more stuffing than peppers. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, who knows. So after I took that pretty picture above, I piled on the rest.

Not quite as pretty eh? Oh well. I wasn't going to waste all that extra stuffing.

Dan put cheese on his since he can have dairy. So I snapped a picture of his, since it looked so nice and melty.


  1. Looks yummy and easy! I will have to give those a try sometime.

  2. Those look amazing, Jen!

    You haven't tried quinoa yet? I love love LOVE quinoa.

  3. Erin - Let me know how they turn our for you.

    Lainie - I have tried quinoa before, just not in this recipe. But I plan on maybe trying it the next time I make them.

  4. Can you please come to my house and cook for me?


  5. Lisa, I don't know, it depends on where you live. :P