Stuffed Bell Peppers

I always liked veggies growing up. Most veggies anyway. I think I could have eaten my own weight in spinach. Oddly enough, back then I preferred canned spinach - but that's usually what my mom served so that's what I knew. Now I know the joys of fresh spinach and can't imagine eating it canned. There were a few veggies I never cared for though -- okra was one - but that's in the past. Green bell peppers were another one. And that one has stuck with me! I can eat them in small amounts but I don't like them. And the funny thing when you don't like the taste of something, you can taste it in anything it's in... spaghetti sauce, lasagna... anything with green bell peppers in it, I can taste them. Sweet hubby, however, adores them.

He asked me to make stuffed bell peppers awhile back and I gladly obliged. I made stuff RED bell peppers because I love the red ones. Isn't that funny what a difference the color makes? He didn't say anything at first but I noticed he was eating the stuffing but just picking around the pepper. I finally asked him what was wrong and he shrugged and told me he was expecting stuffed green peppers because that's what his mom always made so that's what he thought of when he thought of stuffed bell peppers. I had no idea! So now I make stuffed green peppers for hubby and heathen son and, if I'm in the mood for them, I'll stuff a red one for me.

Tonight I was not in the mood for them so green was all I stuffed. Heathen son is at work tonight and hubby is working on our upstairs room getting it ready to be textured so I had the kitchen to myself.

Last weekend I bought four peppers that would be great for stuffing. They just had the perfect shape. I sliced the tops off carefully so I could use them as caps once the peppers were stuffed and cleaned out the seeds and membranes, then set the peppers aside.

I sauteed about a cup of chopped onion, a couple cloves of garlic, some diced jalapeno and a cup (or more) of chopped portobello mushrooms in just a tiny bit of veggie broth.



I added just a little chopped red pepper (for color more than anything) and an 8 oz. package of grated tempeh. After that cooked for a few minutes I added 2 cups of tomato sauce and a 10 oz. bag of fresh spinach. The final addition was 1.5 cups of cooked brown rice.


I stuffed the peppers until the were completely full. The nice thing is that I had some stuffing left over for lunch tomorrow. I'm thinking it will be really good stuffed into a pita pocket.



I capped them with the tops I'd cut off and baked them in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. They were so fragrant when I pulled them out of the oven.



I served them up with some roasted Brussels sprouts and corn tossed with a little cilantro. I should really start setting the bar a little lower on Monday nights. :)


- Posted by Jennifer

Location:Home, sweet home