Stuffed Green Peppers

Just looking at this picture makes me want to eat, like, seven more of these beasts. They were so delicious and made up of the most simple ingredients. These would be super easy to make ahead and throw in the oven to finish off too for a quick weeknight meal. Hope you all love them as much as we did. And yes, I said we! Jon LOVED them even though he has a tendency to act like all vegetables will cause him to grow an extra toe. I expected him to just eat the stuffing because, hi, it was primarily made of rice, cheese and ground turkey. To my surprise, he actually ate the pepper too. So proud!

4 green peppers

1/2 cup onion chopped

3-4 garlic cloves

2 tbsp butter

1 lb ground turkey breast

1 cup marinara sauce

2 cups rice, fully cooked

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded, and extra to top peppers with

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the tops off the peppers and discard the seeds and membranes. Dice the tops of the peppers. In a medium skillet, cook onion, garlic and green peppers in butter for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add in ground turkey and brown. Mix in marinara sauce and allow to cook for 3-5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl combine turkey mixture, rice, cheeses, salt and pepper. Stuff bell peppers with mixture. Place on baking sheet and tent with foil. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Uncover, add extra shredded mozzarella and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Pork Fried Rice

I am a major jerk and didn't get a picture of this, sorry. Also, while I'm insulting myself, I am a total weirdo because I made this along side a Greek Meatloaf. I wanted to tackle both recipes while I had the ingredients. They didn't go together at all, but separately they were both dynamite. I always eat my fried rice at Chinese restaurants with "duck sauce" which in case you haven't had it, is this delicious sweet and sour type of sauce. I of course don't have any duck sauce at my house. I researched how to make it and was disappointed to know I needed plum, peach or apricot preserves, which I didn't have. So, I used teriyaki sauce in addition to soy sauce, rather than all soy, to still get my sweet need taken care of. Good move on my part, just sayin! Hope you all agree.

1 lb pork, diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cups rice, fully cooked
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp ground ginger

In a large skillet, sautee pork, onion and green pepper in oil until pork is fully cooked. Add in rice and allow to cook for 3-5 minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, teriyaki, soy sauce and ground ginger. Pour into rice mixture and allow to cook for 3-5 minutes.

Spanish Rice

Okay, so I've been watching Rachael Ray for a few years now and I know I've seen her use Piquillo Peppers before. I was in my grocery store the other day looking for diced tomatoes with green chiles and I found the Piquillo Peppers which I've never seen there before and figured I'd snatch them up while I could. The issue with grocery stores in Hawaii is that we rarely have anything outside of the basics. For example, they didn't have the diced tomatoes with green chiles. Fail.

Anyways, I knew I had seen her use Piquillo Peppers before but I couldn't remember in what. I decided to do a Spanish Rice extravaganza and use up my newfound peppers. Also, we always have rice on hand in the house because that is definitely one thing you can always find in Hawaii.

It helps too that Jon has recently started to allow me to get a little adventurous with the recipes. He has NEVER allowed mushrooms within ten feet of him and in the past week has eaten mushrooms THREE times. He has also discovered how much better food is when onions and green peppers are cooked in it, which he refused to try a few years ago. In all honesty, I always just used the ingredients and hid them from him. Haha. You gotta do what you gotta do! Anyhoodles, I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, it would go perfectly along side my Chicken Enchiladas.



Not pictured: Diced Tomatoes. Poor neglected tomatoes.

2 tbsp butter

2 cups long grain rice

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp Goya adobo seasoning

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

3 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup green peppers, chopped

2 piquillo peppers, chopped

3 cups chicken stock

1 15oz can diced tomatoes

Shredded Mexican cheese (optional)

In a saucepan, brown rice in vegetable oil until golden over medium-high heat. Add in paprika, cumin, goya, onion, garlic, green peppers and piquillos. Cook until onions are tender. Add in chicken stock and diced tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium, cover and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes. When I served it, I added some shredded Mexican cheese which made it even more delicious!