Crockpot Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients:

1.5lbs ground beef (or ground chicken or turkey)

5-6 green peppers

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

.5-1 cup vegetable or beef broth (optional)

1.5 jars pasta sauce, divided

1 package ready rice, cooked

2 tsp Basil

2 tsp Oregano

Pinch of Thyme

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook the ground beef, seasoning with basil, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper.

2. When the beef is no longer pink, drain the grease then return beef to skillet.

3. If you want your beef a little more moist, add vegetable or beef broth

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine and mix your cooked beef, chopped onion, minced garlic, grated parmesan cheese, cooked rice and pasta sauce.

5. Rinse and cut off the top of each pepper as well as gut out the seeds and extra fleshy parts inside.

6. Add a layer of pasta sauce to the bottom of the crockpot.

7. Stuff each pepper with the meat mixture.

8. Add any remaining meat mixture to the pasta sauce at the bottom of the crockpot.

9. Place stuffed peppers into the crockpot.

10. Top each pepper with any remaining pasta sauce and parmesan cheese.

11. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Commentary:

One of my favorite crockpot meals to make is stuffed green peppers. Not only is it a comfort food staple, it's also a pretty healthy meal.

I have a slight phobia about raw meat so I precook my ground beef. Sometimes I'm forced to precook my meat anyway when I buy a 3lb pack of ground beef and don't have any freezer bags at home to split it out for multiple meals. So, if I have to use half of the pack for another recipe first, I'll have to precook the rest for my upcoming stuffed peppers. I typically season the meat with Italian spices such as basil, oregano and a pinch of thyme. I also add the staples: salt and pepper.

If you precook your beef the day you are making your stuffed peppers, the meat should still be moist enough to just mix in with the rest of your ingredients before stuffing the peppers. If you find your meat dry, however, I recommend adding either some vegetable or beef broth into your cooked meat. I had intended to use beef broth (because I swore to myself when grocery shopping that I still had beef broth at home...) but could only find vegetable broth in my pantry.

In a large mixing bowl, combine and mix your cooked beef (with or without some broth), chopped onion, minced garlic, grated parmesan cheese, cooked rice and pasta sauce. I prefer Classico brand pasta sauce as I believe it has a lot of flavor and mostly stays thick when cooking. (I also like using their jars afterwards for crafts!) I apparently thought I did a fantastic job at my last grocery haul as I had thought I had some ready rice for my recipe. I did not. I did, however, find two half full bags of ready rice in my fridge leftover from previous meals. Score.

Next, prepare the green peppers by rinsing and then cutting off the top of each pepper (off with their heads!). If I'm having a good cutting skills day, I'll be able to salvage the tops of the peppers without the stem. Any extra green pepper is worth the effort! I'll then gut out the seeds and extra fleshy parts of the green pepper.

Back to the crockpot briefly, I add a layer of pasta sauce to the bottom of the crockpot. I do this for two very professional reasons: 1. My husband likes extra sauce; and, 2. I'm always afraid that I'd burn the peppers on the bottom without anything there.

Next I "stuff" each pepper with the meat mixture. If there is any meat mixture that doesn't fit into the peppers, I throw it into the pasta sauce at the bottom of the crockpot.

The most difficult step of this entire meal comes next: wedging the peppers into the crockpot. Will all six peppers fit into my oval shaped crockpot? Challenge accepted.

I top each pepper with any remaining pasta sauce and some parmesan cheese (because, cheese).

Then I sit back and enjoy the smell of stuffed peppers simmering in my kitchen on a fall or winter day. And by "sit back and enjoy," I mean chase around my young daughter until I'm exhausted and starving. At least I will be able to sit back and enjoy gourging myself with stuffed peppers.