A few years ago I decided to find a recipe for Stuffed peppers. I didn’t grow up eating them and my only real experience with them was the frozen meal variety and a couple of poor attempts by people.
What I loved about this dish, even though I had not had what would be considered in my mind, a “good version”, I loved the potential of the recipe!A traditional or classic Stuffed Pepper recipe calls for green peppers, ground beef, rice, tomato sauce and onions with some seasoning thrown in. I think you could do an amazing take on this and really spruce it up but I veered off to the left a bit and came up with a recipe that is a bit outside the norm, has a lot of flavor and you don’t stuff it in a pepper.
I actually had this recipe pretty perfected but I was using a rice mix from a box with, let’s just say, less than desirable ingredients. Since the quality of the food I prepare, feed my family and eat myself has changed so drastically in recent years, I’ve had to revise most of my recipes to replace crap ingredients with real, whole or organic items. Some I had to scrap all together.
As I started to revise this recipe, I realized there was no organic rice mix I could use. I finally found a recipe on Pinterest I could make myself for the rice portion. It was really involved and takes a long time to cook. I put it on the back burner if you will because this super easy go-to weeknight recipe we love was becoming too complicated.
I had almost totally forgot about it when one day I was in the organic section of our local Raley’s grocery store just looking at what they had since it is not a store we shop at on the regular. Then, there it was, “Organic Whole Grain Rice and Wild Rice” with a seasoning mix no less! Recipe back on!
Here it is:
Ingredients
-2 TBLS of Olive Oil
-1lb Hot Italian Pork Sausage in bulk or about 2 ½ links removed from casings (you can use chicken or turkey)
-2 Bell Peppers chopped small (I prefer red, orange or yellow but green works)
-1/4 of a white onion chopped small *optional
-3/4 cup mozzarella or raw sharp white cheddar cheese shredded
-1-2 TBLS Dry Italian Seasoning
-salt and pepper to taste
DirectionsMake rice according to the directions.
Once the rice is set to simmer, you can make the meat mixture. Put the olive oil in a pan and put the heat on med-high. Put the meat in the pan breaking it up and browning it. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Add the onion and peppers to the pan and cook until slightly softened. Throw the meat back in the pan and add the rice once it is finished. Add the Italian Seasoning, salt/pepper and the cheese. Combine well and serve.
Vegan/Gluten Free version:
-Omit cheese or use vegan cheese
-Omit sausage and use 1½ cups of mushrooms instead. I love a white button mushroom but use your favorite. Chop them the same size as peppers and onions. Cook them first in a dry pan with no oil until browned. Do not over crowd pan so moisture coming out will cook off. Once the mushrooms have good color on them, remove and set aside. Add the oil and the peppers and onion to the pan. To replace the spice, add a ½ tsp of red pepper flakes at this point. Add mushrooms back in and then follow the rest of the recipe as is.
This recipe is crazy easy and you can really switch it up to fit the way you eat. It serves 4 heartily and is wonderful leftover cold or warmed up!
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