Stuffed Peppers with zesty, tasty ground beef are a classic in just about every cuisine. I changed mine up by adding cream cheese to the meat to make it taste richer, now that we cannot have rice. I added red pepper flakes for a bit of a kick. I also increased the amount of meat used, so that it would be more a more substantial filling in each bell pepper. I made this same recipe with I think 1 lb of beef and my husband felt that there was not enough meat. So, I made the recipe again and now you have the improved, meatier version, which he heartily agreed was much better.
I have made this tender stuffed bell pepper recipe with mushrooms the one time and onions the next time. Both are nice options, but I actually preferred the onions.
The amount of meat used equals 1/4 lb meat per bell pepper. I could only eat half a stuffed pepper in a sitting, so it depends on the person and their appetite at the time for sure.
Look for fresh, bright, colorful and shiny bell peppers in the grocery store and use them soonish. They usually last well for about 1 week in the refrigerator drawer and after that it goes downhill day by day. So, best to use them as soon as possible for this dish, for optimal results.
You could serve these with a nice salad on the side and my Crusty Garlic Bread sticks or some bread rolls.
These last well all week in the refrigerator. They could potentially be frozen as well. Just thaw in the refrigerator and bake in a moderate oven of 350°F (180°C) until heated through.
If you like you can substitute the ground beef with any ground meat of your choice, making this a recipe you can play with.
Traditionally cooked rice is added to the meat mixture, but since that is off the table, folks in maintenance could stir in 1/2 cup cooked quinoa which is quite high in protein, and it is a seed, not a grain. It is not for the weight loss phase however. If you are in weight loss mode, cauli rice would work. Vegetables, chopped confetti style (use your food processor) and cooked in a pan before adding to the meat is an idea, too. If you want to add extra mushrooms - chop them finely. None of this is necessary as the recipe as written is fantastic, but I am just needing to write a bunch of stuff for SEO to get a better grade - right now my grade for this recipe is too low and I am thinking of how I can raise it. So far my efforts for these Stuffed Peppers is not working. LOL I guess there must be a ton of stuffed pepper recipes out there. Anyway, you can see that many variations are possible. In fact, I have seen Taco meat used, different meats used, even steak for Philly steak stuffed peppers, and you name it. Mine is my own recipe and different as I added the cream cheese and the red pepper flakes for a bit of a kick. That was a good addition.
You can use whatever cheese you have on hand. I just happened to have Mozzarella and nothing else. Any shredded cheese of choice is going to be tasty in these. Oh great, my rambling is pushing up my score. I have to cover two more topics to push it up to the next grade.
I use full-fat cream cheese, but you can use lighter cream cheese, if you like. The carbs are about the same. It is not like they add sugar or something.
Use a baking dish that will
support your stuffed peppers and prevent them from falling over. You
can even put them in a jumbo muffin tin. If the peppers are smaller and
not fitting the dish, use balls of aluminum foil to support them.
Ingredients:
6 colorful bell peppers
1/2
lb sliced mushrooms, OR (227 g)
1 onion, chopped (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil (15 mL)
11/2 lbs lean ground beef (680 g)
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (411 g)
1/4
cup tomato paste (60 mL)
1 tsp salt (5 mL)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (5 mL)
1/2
tsp seasoning salt (2 mL)
1/2
tsp black pepper (2 mL)
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, (250 mL)
divided
4 oz cream cheese (125 g)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Cut tops off the bell peppers and remove seeds, etc.
inside. Bring a large pot of water to
the boil. Carefully, using tongs add the
bell peppers to the boiling water and leave them in there for about 10 minutes. Drain.
In large nonstick frying pan, cook mushrooms in olive
oil until moisture has evaporated and they are cooked. Set aside.
Or, if you are using onions, cook them until softened. Add a pinch of baking soda, stirring the
onions, and they will caramelize quite quickly.
Set aside.
In the same frying pan, brown the ground beef,
breaking it up. Add the diced tomatoes,
tomato paste, salt, crushed red pepper flakes, seasoning salt and black
pepper. When the meat sauce is looking
done, add 2/3 cup (150 mL) Mozzarella cheese and
cream cheese. Cook until both are melted.
Add meat mixture to the hollowed out peppers. Top with remaining Mozzarella cheese. Bake about 15 to 20 minutes.
Yield: 6 servings
1
serving
458.5
calories
29.9
g protein
30.7
g fat
0.9 g fiber
13.0
g net carbs
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