one pot stuffed pepper skillet

Can I tell you how weird it felt to be taking “nice” pictures of food yesterday? I don’t think I have actually done food photography in at least a year – probably more – so I was pleasantly surprised when I remembered how to use my camera in its manual setting.

The other night when I made this for dinner, I decided I would completely give up on the fact that the girls would even think about eating it. I have tried multiple times with this dish, and they just weren’t having it either time. I’m not into being a short order cook, but I knew it would only lead to frustration if I tried to feed this to them.

So there we were at dinner, and what did Emerson do?

She sat there, pointed at my bowl, and screamed until I fed her my dinner.

Then she continued to scream when I stopped feeding it to her.

Toddlers – I tell ya!

One of the reasons why I love this dish so much is because it is SO easy. I love stuffed peppers, but they always just take too long to make. Once you  make the filling, then you have to actually bake the peppers. One night when I was in a pinch a few years ago, I tried this idea out – low and behold, it worked!

I always use prepared frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s which really cuts down on the cook time of this dish. If you’re planning on making this, I would go with the frozen brown rice or make your brown rice ahead of time. That way it will be easy peasy to throw together on a week night! This dish would also be great with quinoa.

If you’re looking for a vegetarian rendition of this meal, I would substitute the meat for 2 cups of prepared lentils. That would be delicious!

Thanks for being patient waiting for this recipe – hope you like it!

One Pot Stuffed Pepper Skillet
serves 4
difficulty: easy
cook time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef (or ground turkey, ground chicken, etc.)
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 green peppers, roughly chopped
• 28 oz. diced tomatoes
• 2 cups prepared brown rice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tbsp. each of parsley, oregano, basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooking spray
• optional: cheese to garnish

Directions:

1. Heat a larget skillet to medium high heat. Add the garlic, onion, and ground beef to the skillet once warm. Brown the ground beef and stir frequently to avoid burning the onion and garlic.

2. Once the meat has been browned, drain the excess fat from the skillet. Add the tomatoes, green peppers, brown rice, water, and spices. Stir to combine.

3. Lower the heat and cover the skillet. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the green peppers are tender.

Enjoy!