Hot and cheesy Stuffed Peppers (Winter version)

So it started earlier this week. It's been cold and as you know from my previous post, I am chubby and uninspired by food, and I can only make my family eat soup/salad/sandwiches for dinner so many nights in a row. At the grocery store I started in the produce section (equally uninspiring in January) and hoping to see something interesting and seasonal. Well, seasonal in Mexico anyway. Green peppers looked good, and so it occurred to me that should jump to a Summer favorite which may work better in the Winter since it is hot and cheesy.

So I made them for dinner last night, the fam chowed them, and now I am watching my husband eat the only one left for his lunch, while the delicious smell wafts across to me. Jerk.


Stuffed Peppers, as a main or side dish

Any kind of peppers you like, this time I used green and red peppers, but you can use orange, yellow or even in Summer, those long, yummy yellow Banana peppers like we ate in Greece (I'll add the real name some day). My friends Christine and Paul grow them on their ranch and I am so psyched when they leave a bag on my doorstep! Plan on one half per person as a side, or at least one full pepper per adult as a main dish.
Assorted vegetables, diced small to the same size...last night was mushrooms, onions, broccoli, carrots, asparagus, edamame, zucchini...whatever you've got on hand, about three cups total when combined. Same goes for fresh herbs, if you have some, chop them up. Oregano, Rosemary, parsley are ones that I have used.
Garlic or garlic powder if you are feeling lazy like I was last night. Hey, don't judge.
A cup or so of cooked ricer or other grain. This time I used brown rice because I had it on hand, but healthy options include pre-cooked quinoa, barley, hell even leftover take out rice or fried rice would be great.
About a pound of ground meat: chicken or turkey is what I typically use, but even Italian sausage would be awesome, yet defeat the point of trying to make this healthy.
A can of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes. Although I love them (family and tomatoes), my family has chunky tomato issues so I usually just use sauce to keep the complaints down.
Other seasoning, like a pre-blended Italian or low/no sodium herb seasoning blend. And a few big shakes of Emeril's seasoning (topic for whole other blog!), salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 375º, lightly oil a shallow baking dish to fit how many peppers you plan to make. Open can of tomatoes and put a few large spoonfuls into dish to cover bottom
Set a pot of water to boil. Wash and cut around the stem of each pepper, pull it out and discard. Slice in half horizontally, pull/trim out ribs. Put peppers into boiling water until a bit soft, maybe 5 mins. Remove with tongs, and arrange peppers in dish on top of sauce, cut half open like a cup.

Meanwhile add a few slugs of olive oil to a large sauté pan and cook ground meat of choice until cooked through, add in diced vegetables and herbs, and cook all together another several minutes, 10 maybe, until cooked but not soft/mushy. Season with the dried herb mix, salt and pepper. Pretty generous seasoning here.

In a large bowl, put your cooked grain and heat a few minutes in microwave if it's cold.
Transfer meat/veggie sauté to this bowl and add several spoons of your tomatoes. Mix together, taste for seasoning, and add more tomatoes if mixture is dry. Should be moist but not saucy or drippy. Spoon this into your blanched pepper shells and top with another spoon of tomato sauce.

Cover with foil and bake about 30-40 mins until sauce in pan is bubbling.

Remove the foil, top with grated cheese and return to oven (under broiler if you like) for another 5-8 mins until melted. Keep a close eye on it if you broil it so that it doesn't burn (like the countless garlic breads I have incinerated).

I served this last night as a side dish with some baked chicken breasts covered in herbs (baked at the same time!) and everyone was satisfied...I felt relatively healthy, no complaints from the husb who insists most meals include meat, bacon or are smothered with cheese, or my daughter who didn't even notice I had snuck in brown rice.
Nice.