Beef & Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

This dish is one that stays on rotation in our home. It’s easy, flavorful, can be made in advance and makes for great leftovers. Historically, I have only added the cheese on the top of the peppers. As of late though, I have found myself adding cheese with each bite (calcium craving?!). Next time I plan to add cheese into the stuffing, as well as on top. If you go this route, please let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Beef
4-5 large Bell Peppers
1 cup Brown Rice
1 14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes, drained
2 Garlic Cloves, mashed
1 Tbsp Parsley, chopped
1 8oz can Tomato Sauce
1 tsp Dried Oregano
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Aged Parmesan Cheese, to taste

Cook the rice according to the package and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tops off of the bell peppers and remove the seeds and ribbing. Fill a pyrex baking pan with 1/2 inch of water and place the bell peppers in, open-face down. Wrap with tinfoil and bake for 20 minutes. Once done baking, pull the peppers out of the oven & set aside. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees.

In a large, non-stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add the beef. Note, if you would like to add onions, cook the diced onions before adding the meat. Let the meat sit and simmer for a couple minutes to let it brown, and then start to mix it around so the meat gets evenly cooked. Once the meat is half-browned, add the garlic and season the meat with salt, pepper, oregano and chopped parsley. Continue to cook until the beef is cooked through.

Turn down the heat to simmer and add the rice, half of the tomato sauce, and the diced tomatoes. Add more seasoning, if desired, to taste. Mix well.

Flip over the baked peppers to an upright position and fill them with the beef & rice. Pour the remaining tomato sauce on each stuffed pepper. Cover with the foil and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, sprinkle the stuffed peppers with the cheese and return to bake uncovered until peppers are tender, about 10 minutes. Serve warm.