Stuffed Peppers

Not sure what got into me the last few weeks but I had it in my head that I was going to make stuffed peppers. I have this feeling it was because my mom told me she made some a while back and I thought it would be a good way to get some move veggie in my diet. (Diet here being how you eat as a whole, not something you do for a month before you go to a wedding or reunion.)
Thank you once again to Pintrest I found many stuffed pepper recipes but I went with the one below.
Here is the original website and the original recipe and then I'll tell you what I did differently after the pictures.

Stuffed Peppers Recipe with Turkey Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Mozzarella

This makes six stuffed peppers.


Ingredients:
6 red or green peppers, or a mixture of colors
1 pound extra lean ground beef (called beef mince outside of the U.S.)
1 pkg. (5 links/19.5 oz) turkey Italian sausage (hot or mild, but I prefer hot)
1 cup diced onion (1 medium onion)
1 cup diced red pepper (tops of peppers)
4-6 tsp. olive oil for browning meat and veggies
Vege-sal to season meat (or use salt)
fresh ground black pepper, to season meat
1 cup (or slightly more) spicy tomato sauce with basil (I use my own Marinara sauce from the freezer so I know it is sugar free. Bottled sauce is fine, but check the label to get the one that is lowest in sugar.)
2 cups grated low fat mozzarella cheese (I used skim milk mozzarella cheese with 5 grams fat per ounce)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (optional, you could use a little less mozzarella if adding this)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Cut tops off peppers, making a deep enough cut that you have some pepper to chop for the filling. Square off the bottom of each pepper to make them stand up. (It's nice to have a small hole in the bottom so any extra fat can drain out, and cutting off the bottoms also accomplishes this.) Clean out inside of peppers and wash if needed. Choose a pan that will keep the peppers standing upright and spray with olive oil or nonstick spray.

In very large frying pan, heat a small amount of olive oil and cook hamburger until lightly browned. (I use my turner or a potato masher to break up the meat into smaller bits as it cooks.) Put the browned meat in a colander or fine-mesh strainer, rinse with very hot water to remove fat, and let drain. In same frying pan, add a tiny amount of olive oil, squeeze turkey sausage out of links, and cook until lightly brown. Add to hamburger in colander and rinse again. 

Add a bit more oil to pan and cook chopped peppers and onions for about 3-4 minutes, until barely starting to soften. Turn off heat and put meat back into pan with peppers and onions. Add about 1 cup tomato sauce, just enough to barely moisten the mixture. Season mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Let mixture cool slightly, then mix in cheeses, saving about 1/4 cup Mozzarella for the top of the peppers.

Put the peppers in the pan standing upright. Stuff each pepper with meat/veggie/cheese mixture, using a large spoon and pressing in tightly until you use all the filling. Put a pinch of Mozzarella cheese on the top of each pepper. Cover the dish loosely with foil, tenting it up so it doesn't touch the tops of the peppers.

Bake, covered with foil about 30 minutes. Take off foil and bake about 20 minutes more, until cheese is melted completely and top is slightly browned. Serve hot.

This freezes well, so even if you're only cooking for one or two I recommend making the full amount and stashing some in the freezer for lunches or easy dinners another time. 

 

Now to use up some stuff that I had in the freezer, I used some local beef from the farmers market so I'm pretty sure the fat content was higher than the original recipe but the cows grew up about 30 minutes from where I live and were 100% grass fed; the way meat is suppose to be. And instead of using turkey sausage I still had some Johnsonville Italian sausage in the freezer so I used it. I also didn't rinse my meat after cooking it cause fat is flavor and I wanted the flavor in my dinner, not down the drain. 
Like the recipe suggest I did cut the bottoms off of my peppers but in some cases I went a little over board so a couple peppers didn't really have bottoms but it's ok cause the meant still stuck together and you're going to cut the thing up to eat it anyway.
I also only used green peppers instead of a mix of red and green because I liked the look of the green peppers at Bi-Lo better.




I do have to say this. I am not a huge fan of pepper, or at least raw peppers, so the idea that I had a hankering for these was strange enough. The fact that they were so yummy that I am going to add them into my recipe book is even more bazaar. If you're more worried about the dish's fat content that you are about cleaning out your freezer than shop around for the lean beef and the turkey sausage. Me? I wanted to be a bit frugal this time.