stuffed peppers

I feel so much lighter after my last post. I appreciate your kind words of encouragement and am sorry that some of you even share my frustration. I've made some progress in that department but I'm still waiting to hear a few things from a few people so for now, knock on wood and stuff some peppers!

These were as colorful and pretty as they were delicious. Start off by sauteing some onions and garlic in olive oil.


Get your ground beef in there and brown it up.


While that's cooking, start heating up your tomato sauce, basil, and cream in a pot.


Have your peppers all cleaned an ready for stuffing.


Add your already cooked orzo to the meat mixture and about a cup of the cream sauce. Give it a good stir. The original recipe said to add half a cup of sauce to the mix but that didn't seem to be enough when the peppers were cut open so next time I'd add a full cup.

Stuff each pepper with the pasta/meat/sauce mixture and cap it with its top.

Pop them in the oven for 30 minutes. You may want to cover them for the last ten so they don't brown up too much.


Meanwhile, make up some delicious garlic bread to serve along side it. (I'll post the recipe for that later!)


I had some leftover orzo that I mixed with tomato sauce and served it with the peppers and garlic bread.


It was a nice hearty, yet still summery meal after eating mostly hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner as of late.

Enjoy!


Stuffed Peppers
slightly adapted from Just the Tip

6 bell peppers, tops sliced off and cleaned out
2 cups of cooked orzo
1 1/3 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1 jar tomato sauce
1/3 heavy cup cream
1/3 cup fresh chopped basil
grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 400F.

Heat olive oil in a saucepan and saute onions until soft, about five minutes. Add garlic and saute for another minute or two. Add ground beef and cook until browned. While ground beef is cooking, add sauce, cream, and basil to a pot and heat on low.

When everything is cooked and heated through, add two cups of cooked orzo and one cup of the cream sauce to the meat mixture. Stir to combine. Line a deep baking dish with foil and stand your peppers up inside. Spoon the filling into each pepper and top with a spoonful of cream sauce. Grate some fresh parmesan over it and cap with the pepper's top. Add any remaining cream sauce to the bottom of the pan.

Slide them in the oven for 30 minutes. Cover for the last ten minutes to prevent the peppers from getting too brown.

Serve up with your favorite sides and enjoy!