stuffed peppers Archives - The Midnight Baker

2-Cheese Stuffed Peppers

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 23:00:02 +0000

A very unconventional stuffed pepper! This one’s a cheese lover’s delight.

I have to be honest. I was never much of a stuffed pepper lover. My mother used to make them the conventional way with a ground beef and rice filling and the sauce was pretty meh. Most others I tasted tasted like my mother’s recipe. That’s because that recipe is pretty much standard.

The original inspiration for these came from a gal who grew up on my street in Brooklyn, NY. Way back then, I wasn’t friendly with Chris–just by means of the age difference. I was a young adult when she was a little kid. But move both of us to near-senior (me) and her hovering around 50, and we find we have so very much in common. She’s a WONDERFUL cook so likes to talk about what she makes.

Chris first told me about these stuffed peppers about 5 years ago. She said her then-kindergarten-age son was an extremely picky eater. He wouldn’t eat stuffed peppers made conventionally because not only did they taste “Meh,” but the rice put him off. I won’t go into what he thought it looked like in the meat, LOL!!! So out of desperation, Chris had to find a way he WOULD eat this since the family liked it so much. Well, he liked cheese and that’s how she devised a great recipe that everyone loved, including her picky son.

She told me pack the meat with mozzarella cheese–big hunks of it. No, the shredded won’t do here, you have to buy the block and cut it in cubes between 1/4 and 1/2-inch on the side. Of course she left out the rice and used either white bread soaked in water or soft bread crumbs. The filling is actually a giant meatball with mozzarella cheese. Then she’d cook it in homemade pasta sauce or like she said, sometime’s she’d cheat a bit and use a jar sauce.

When I fist made these I couldn’t believe how good they actually were. Much like Chris’ son, I began to develop a love of stuffed peppers!

Over the years, this recipe has evolved with me. I keep tweaking it and this recipe here is the best tweak I’ve done so far–even though all have been good. I have made them with ground turkey and they’re nice, but they are just not as good as with ground beef. That’s a personal taste thing, and that surprises me because I actually prefer chicken and turkey to beef, but what can I say?

These are quick and easy, despite having to cut up the block of mozzarella. They take about 30-45 minutes done stovetop all in one pan and they’re easily adapted to the set-and-forget world of slow cooking! One carryover from my mother is the way she prepped the peppers. Instead of cutting off the top and filling a whole pepper, she’d slice them in half lengthwise. Its a good plan because however you cook them, they don’t fall over like the whole pepper is like to do.

I used an array of colors for the peppers since the red, orange and yellow were on sale at the same price as the green. The rainbow of colors adds a lot of eye appeal to this dish, but any color pepper will do.

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2-Cheese Stuffed Peppers

A very unconventional stuffed pepper! This one’s a cheese lover’s delight.

Prep Time20

Cook Time45

Total Time1 5

Course: beef, Comfort Foods, skillet dinners, Slow Cooker

Cuisine: American

Keyword: stuffed peppers

Servings: 4

Calories: 677kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

4 medium bell peppers any color
1 lb lean ground beef
3 slices white bread
2 eggs
16 oz block of mozzarella cut in 1/4- to 1/2-inch cubes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup marinara sauce
26-28 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped

Instructions

Soak white bread in about 1/4 cup of water. Let sit for 5 minutes; squeeze as much water as you can from the bread.
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, squeezed bread, eggs, salt, garlic powder, oregano, pepper and Parmesan cheese.
Mix in the mozzarella
Prepare peppers by cutting in half lengthwise and removing seeds and membranes.
Divide the meat evenly between the 8 pepper halves.
Place the cup of marinara sauce in the bottom of a large (about 12-inch) skillet.
Place the filled peppers on top of the sauce.
Add the entire can of diced tomatoes over the peppers
Cook at medium-high heat until liquid begins to boil
Cover and lower heat to simmer
Cook for 30 minutes and test for doneness. If the meat is not done, cook an additional 10-15 minutes.
Top with the chopped fresh parsley
Slow Cooker Directions:
Prepare filling and peppers as in main recipe
Add marinara to slow cooker
Place filled peppers in slow cooker.
Add the can of diced tomatoes
*Cook on low 5-8 hours, high 2-5.
*My slow cookers cook these fast for some reason. Check at the MINIMUM times for doneness. They can always be held at the warm setting till you are ready to eat.

Nutrition

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Philly Style Mushroom Asiago Chicken Stuffed Peppers

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Philly Style Mushroom Asiago Chicken Stuffed Peppers

If you like my famous Mushroom Asiago Chicken, you’ll LOVE these stuffed peppers!

Last week I saw a Philly Cheesesteak version of stuffed peppers. Frankly, I was going to do something like that, but of course, it’s not uncommon (and I was too cheap to buy deli roast beef LOL)

Anyway, I decided to jazz up and hack my already popular chicken dish to make it into a stuffed pepper filling.

The big debate here was whether I was going to use mozzarella or a good aged provolone to top it off. The mozzrella won because I basically love to snack on a great provolone so I saved it for that purpose. However, use provolone in place of mozzarella if you want. Even fontina would be nice!

A complete and utterly delicious meal

I did make the chicken a little different. First I cut it into strips like you’d do for a stir fry, and I did want onions added to this–just to make it something like a Philly Cheesesteak. I also used less cream for the sauce because I wasn’t serving it with a pasta–just by itself. And do use heavy cream. That way there is no need to reduce the sauce. This isn’t a diet dish by any means so I wouldn’t bother.

I blanched the pepper halves because this was fully cooked and I only wanted to melt the cheese. Be very careful that the peppers don’t get limp. I did mine in the water for about 5 minutes. That made them sort of crisp-tender. The combination was delightful–a little crunch in the pepper that holds it shape plus the wonderful full-bodied flavor of the chicken, topped off with some nice gooey cheese.

Gooey cheese–perfect!

You can’t top that!

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Philly Style Mushroom Asiago Chicken Stuffed Peppers

If you like my famous Mushroom Asiago Chicken, you’ll LOVE these stuffed peppers!

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Total Time40

Course: Chicken, Everyday Meals

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Asiago, chicken, mushrooom, philly style, stuffed peppers

Servings: 4

Calories: 451kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 large green bell peppers
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
1 medium onion sliced
8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
1 clove garlic minced
4 sprigs fresh thyme -OR- 1/4 tsp dehydrated
1 cup dry white wine -OR- water
1 envelope Swanson Flavor Boost chicken -OR- 1 chicken stock cube
1/4 cup shredded asiago cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 thick slices mozzarella
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

SEASONED FLOUR

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Cut peppers in half through stem; remove seeds and veins.
Bring about 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add pepper halves and boil for 5-7 minutes. This blanches the peppers, but the peppers should not get soft. Remove and drain. Set aside to cool.
Slice chicken breast into 1/4-inch slices. Dredge in seasoned flour.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and butter (it’s OK if the butter browns–it adds flavor). Add the chicken and brown.
Add the mushrooms, onions, garlic and thyme. Saute for 5 minutes.
Add the stock packet (or cube) and the wine (or water). Stir; reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the cream and the shredded asiago cheese, stir until cheese is melted.
Spoon chicken mixture into pepper halves. Top with mozzarella slices.
Heat broiler to HI heat.
Place peppers on baking sheet and broil until cheese is melted, bubbly and begins to brown.
Serve immediately.
Serves 4

Nutrition

Philly Style Mushroom Asiago Chicken Stuffed Peppers

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Spanish Style Stuffed Peppers

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Spanish Style Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers go south of the border! Done on the BBQ grill and flavored with Hillshire’s American Craft sausage.

Meat Is A Condiment

This is certainly a different kind of stuffed pepper…and I believe an improvement on the classic.

I recently discovered this line of sausage put out by Hillshire Farms when it was on a list of products you could feature with a recent promotion I was involved with.

Perfect combination of flavors

It looked interesting so I bought all 3 varieties the store offered–jalapeno & cheddar, garlic & onion and smoky burbon. Other varieties are available, but these were what my store had.

I chose to use the jalapeno & cheddar for this since the bit of heat was offset by the sweetness of the bell peppers. I had a little bit of mild salsa (you can use hot if you like), loads of rice and cheeses so I blended them together. Result was outrageously good!

There are a few steps involved…I prefer to crisp the sausage pieces because it adds texture, flavor and it just looks nicer, but it’s not an absolute necessity here. I’ve also given directions for a conventional oven, but that way you miss out on the WONDERFUL flavor the grill gives the bell pepper.

The Recipe

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Spanish Style Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers go south of the border! Done on the BBQ grill and flavored with Hillshire’s American Craft sausage.

Prep Time25

Cook Time30

Total Time55

Course: Comfort Foods, Pork

Cuisine: American

Keyword: stuffed peppers

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 551kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

4-6 large bell peppers in assorted colors
3 Hillshire Farms American Craft Jalapeno & Cheddar sausage kielbasa or smoked sausage may be substituted
1 1/2 cups cooked white rice cooled or leftover rice
3 tbsp mild salsa
1/2 cup diced onion
2 tsp Goya Adobo con Pimiento seasoning*
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese
2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

*If you can't get the Goya seasoning, a fairly decent substitute would be a pinch of white pepper, 1 tsp salt & 1 tsp garlic powder.
Cut peppers in half thru stem. Remove seeds and white pulp. Reserve half the amount of cut peppers for filling. Dice enough of the remaining pepper halves to make 1/2 cup of diced peppers.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and the diced peppers. Saute until onion is translucent; about 5-7 minutes, being careful not to let this burn. Add onion mixture to cooked rice. Also add the salsa, seasonings and the shredded cheese. Set aside.
Preheat grill to high heat. Meanwhile, slice sausage into 1/8-1/4-inch slices. Place grill wok or grill pan (these have holes in them--they look like baking sheets with holes. Generally used for grilling small food such as scallops, shrimp and veggies. I use a Technique grill pan) on the grill grate.
Place sliced sausage on grill pan in a single layer. Grill about 3 minutes each side, or until they are brown and crisp. (if you don't wish to use the grill for this, they may be broiled or pan fried). Remove from grill and reduce heat to medium-low.
Add grilled sausage to rice mixture. Stuff the remaining pepper halves.
Place stuffed peppers on the grill pan/sheet. Close the lid of the BBQ grill and cook peppers for approximately 20-30 minutes or until peppers are just beginning to get soft and are nicely grilled. This can also be done in an oven indoors--place peppers in a baking pan, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 or so minutes. However, they taste MUCH better done on a BBQ grill.

Nutrition

Spanish Style Stuffed Peppers

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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Judith Hannemann — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

These quinoa stuffed peppers are packed with delicious salsa flavor. It’s a great meatless vegetarian meal easily made vegan with substitutions.

I fell in love with these the first time I saw them. My friend Lori made them and posted a pic on her Facebook wall. I immediately started drooling because they looked so good.

Salsa Adds YUM

She’d said she got the recipe off the box of quinoa, but she’d thrown out the box and couldn’t remember the brand. I so badly wanted this recipe! A few months later, she remembered the brand and sent me the recipe from their website. Unfortunately, the brand name was no part of the link she sent me nor was it stated in the recipe. All I know is it was a blue box, so she said. I buy my quinoa in bulk so I am not familiar with brands!! Anyway, credit here goes to some brand of quinoa in a blue box

A Red One

Now A Green One

I baked these in a conventional oven, but Lori (long story) baked them in the Nesco oven she borrowed from me, and I think they’d come out even juicier if you did them in a Nesco. However, they are delicious ANY way you make them.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

The dish this is baked in is the pie plate from the Temp-Tations Specialty Baking Set. The set includes this dish, a 6-cup muffin pan and a standard loaf pan. The item is retired, but some stock is still available on
Temp-tations.com

Temp-Tations Old World Specialty Baking set

Recipe as it’s stated is fine for vegetarians who eat dairy, but you can turn this vegan by replacing the butter with olive oil and omitting the cheese (or finding a vegan cheese substitute), but even though I am a cheese fanatic, these peppers do not need cheese to be great. In fact, next time I may omit it entirely—and I LOVE cheese. That’s how good these are. You won’t miss meat here. These are wonderful.

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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

These quinoa stuffed peppers are packed with delicious salsa flavor. It’s a great meatless vegetarian meal easily made vegan with substitutions.

Prep Time30

Cook Time40

Total Time1 10

Course: Everyday Meals, vegetarian dishes

Cuisine: American

Keyword: quinoa, stuffed peppers

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 475kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa uncooked
2 cups water divided
4 large or 6 medium sweet bell peppers
1 medium onion diced
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 28 oz diced tomatoes (reserve juice)
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 12 oz salsa
2 tbsp dry sherry
10 oz mozzarella shredded (reserve a bit for the top)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. You will need either a 13x9 or 11x7-inch baking pan (or any that will fit the peppers and the remaining quinoa mixture)
Cook quinoa according to package directions using 1 cup uncooked quinoa in 1 1/2 cups water. Quinoa cooks like rice. I used my rice cooker for this.
Cut off and reserve the tops of the bell peppers. Hollow them out then steam both the tops and the peppers in the remaining 1/2 cup of water until slightly soft but not limp; drain and cool slightly.
In a large skillet or saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and saute until tender.
Drain the can of diced tomatoes, but reserve the juice. Add the drained tomatoes, garlic and the salsa to the onion/mushroom mixture. Stir well and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
Add the sherry and stir well. Fold in the cooked quinoa and the mozzarella cheese. Stuff peppers with the quinoa mixture--you will use about half of the mixture to stuff the peppers. Place stuffed peppers upright in a baking dish and sprinkle tops of each pepper with reserved cheese.
Stir the reserved juice from the can of tomatoes into the remaining half of the quinoa mixture and pour around peppers in the baking pan.
Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes. Top with reserved pepper tops and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.
Serves 4-6 depending on size of the peppers.

Nutrition

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