Monday, April 25, 2011

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Sometimes a rainy, overcast day calls for a dazzling array of colors in a dish to cheer you up! A six pack of peppers from Costco inspired me to try making stuffed bell peppers for the first time.

Since rainy days make me feel lazy as well, you can find the full recipe that I used here. I also added around a cup and a half of short grain, fluffy rice that I had leftover in my rice cooker and it worked really well.

Just look at how awesome the bits of pepper look being sauteed with some scallions (since I didn't have any onions on hand) and garlic:

Even the empty peppers looked fun:

I crammed as much as I could into the peppers and still had around a cup leftover of the hamburger/rice mixture, which I cooked in an extra pan.

A close-up shot so you know what I mean when I say I crammed the filling in! I even carefully molded extra spoonfuls on top so not a drop of the mixture would go to waste.

Topped with an additional can of tomato sauce mixed with half a can of diced tomatoes, the peppers were ready for the oven:

They smelt heavenly while they were in the oven and came out looking wonderfully plump. For safety's sake, I used a food thermometer to check the temperature in the middle so I knew that the hamburger had cooked through completely.

Then, it was time to feast. Six stuffed peppers is enough to feed Andrew and I for two dinners straight, since we polished three off in one sitting.

I love the fresh flavor (and colors) of the peppers, combined with the homey combo of hamburger, tomato and rice - a nice warm, filling meal to have on a rainy night.  I call it colorful comfort food.

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