One pepper, two pepper, red pepper, green pepper

It's a tradition.  Every year for Christmas all members of my family receive a calendar for the upcoming new year.  After spending my first four months in Mexico, I went home for Christmas and sure enough, I got my calendar.  It had beautiful pictures of peppers for each month.  With the bright colors and a variety of peppers shown, I thought it was the perfect calendar to hang on the wall of my kitchen.  I know my mom got that particular calendar to place emphasis on my new living environment and the abundance of peppers in Mexico, but she could not have known how much I would come to absolutely love that calendar.  I have even saved the calendar to this day with hopes of framing the pictures and using them as wall decorations in my next home.  I think it is most appropriate for the first recipe of this blog to be.... stuffed peppers!

Ingredients
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 cup stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 tablespoon butter
4 bell peppers
1/2 of a small white onion, diced
2-3 roma tomatoes, diced
1 jar of marinara sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Bring stock and butter to a boil.  Add rice, turn down heat, and cover.  Let set until cooked through.  (Approx. 15 min)  Check after about 8 minutes to make sure the rice doesn't need a touch more liquid.

2. While the rice is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil.  Add peppers to boiling water for at least 5 minutes, making sure the peppers are fully submerged.  This will soften the peppers.  If you like a more crunchy pepper you can omit this step.  After the 5 minutes are up, place peppers into ice water to stop the cooking process.

3. Stir fry the onions until soft and golden.  Remove from pan. 

4. Brown ground beef.  Drain grease. 

5. Into the pan with the beef, add the cooked rice, onions, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and cumin.  Stir.  Add in diced tomatoes.  (Salt, pepper, and a dash of paprika or cayenne pepper could also be added.  Whatever you're in the mood for seasoning-wise)

6. Cut the tops of the peppers off and remove all seeds and membranes.  We begin the stuffing process now!

7. Sprinkle a little salt in the bottom of each pepper.  Add a tiny bit of shredded cheese.  Fill the peppers about 1/2 way with the beef mixture.  Now place a thin layer of marinara sauce inside each pepper.  Fill the peppers the rest of the way full with more beef mixture.  Place tops of peppers back on top. 

8. Place peppers in a baking dish (I used a 9x9 glass baking dish).  Cover loosely with aluminom foil. 

9.  Bake for 20 min. 

10. Remove foil and add shredded cheese to the tops of each pepper.  Place back in oven until cheese is melted. 

Bon appetit!

Some people prefer to have marinara sauce in the bottom of the baking dish and also more mixed in with the beef mixture.  The next time I make these I might try this and see how much difference it makes, but I enjoyed tasting each ingredient and not having an overabundance of the marinara sauce.  I added some slices of avocado on the side.  Such a healthy, filling meal!!