Fall is in the air, the garden is full of green peppers....let's cook 'em up!

Well, I would have liked my first blog post to be a fabulous recipe that visually knocks your socks off and gets your taste buds watering. Instead, I give you the casserole. Still fabulous, perhaps visually more Monet (photo left, a blur) than Robert E. Wood (photo right, clean and crisp). Okay, so I'm reaching...the food-art blog! By the way, I enjoy both Monet and REW. Fact is, somedays you feel like a Monet and somedays you feel like a REW. It's when I start feeling like a Picasso in my cooking that we should begin to worry!











Tonight is Monet, the casserole...comfort food, cold weather pleasing, stick to yer ribs kinda food. My son refers to dishes like this as 'Vermont Food'. The back story here is that my Mom would come to visit and want to cook for us. Mom lives in Vermont, by way of Houlton, Maine. She knows comfort food! There is always a potato or plenty of bread and butter and usually gravy involved somewhere. Chicken and Biscuits, American Chop Suey, Bisquik Oven-Fried Chicken Wings, mashed with lottsa buttah, Hamburger Gravy with more buttery mashed...comfort food. Stick to your ribs and your hiney kinda food! Eh, it's what Mom's do.

So, in honor of the chill that has entered the air, the click of the seasons that shifts us toward Autumn,the garden's bounty of green peppers and Monet....I give you the casserole: 

Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers: 
1 lb lean ground beef
2 green peppers, coarsely chopped (I substituted one green pepper for several mini sweet peppers in orange, red and yellow.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked long-grain white rice
1 jar (24 oz) spaghetti sauce
2 cups shredded cheese blend (cheddar, jack, mozz, etc) 
Preheat oven to 350^oF. 
Brown meat with peppers and garlic in a large skillet until ground beef is cooked and peppers softened. Drain any excessive drippings from pan.

 

Stir in rice, spaghetti sauce and 1 cup of cheese.

 

Spoon into 2-qt casserole, top with remaining cheese.

Place on a lined cookie sheet to protect your oven. Bake 25 – 30 minutes until browned and bubbly.

Serve with a wedge of warm crusty bread, salad and a side of green beans…'cause that’s the way we like it!

Modifications: Substitute ground turkey or chicken, switch to brown rice and cut back on the cheese to make it more diet friendly. It really tastes great either way!