With the fall weather and an abundance of peppers in my refrigerator, I figured it was a perfect time to pull out the slow cooker and make stuffed peppers. There are so many different ways to make them, but I was in the mood for a more traditional stuffed pepper with ground beef and tomato sauce.
If you’re paranoid (like me) about leaving your slow cooker on all day while out of the house, I sometimes let the recipes cook overnight. In the morning, I just turn it off and put the whole ceramic dish in the refrigerator. The only drawback to this is the smell of food cooking can make you crave strange things for breakfast in the morning!
I had some peppers that weren’t conducive to stuffing (the long skinny kind), so I chopped them up and threw them in with the onions and garlic. I was also lazy and bought some already-cooked brown rice from the salad bar at Whole Foods. After filling the peppers, I usually have some of the meat mixture leftover, which I either add to the sauce or freeze for another time.
Stuffed peppers
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
~1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
Italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes to taste
1 cup cooked rice or barley
4 bell peppers, halved
1 jar (25 ounces) tomato sauce
Directions
1. Heat olive oil over medium heat, then add onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add ground beef, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks. When beef is almost done cooking, add seasonings and rice.
2. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in slow cooker.
3. Fill bell pepper halves with meat mixture and place in slow cooker. Top with rest of tomato sauce (try to cover all of the peppers).
4. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Enjoy!
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| Step 1: Browning ground beef |
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| Step 3: Stuffed peppers before the sauce |
Kara Cooks and Eats 