I Stuffed a Pepper...

Stuffed Purple Bell Pepper

And this, folks, is progress. I've been so incredibly busy and total lacking in motivation when it comes to anything, that prancing around in my kitchen concocting stuff just hasn't been at the top of my list. In efforts to move myself out of this funk, I forced an early trip to the Fisher's Farmer's Market, found some purple bell peppers at my favorite veggie stand {along with lemon cucumbers} and proceeded to go home and turn on my oven {something I haven't done in a couple of weeks - tragic}.

Read on to see how it went down.

The Ingredients
Bell Peppers {I used purple, white, and red}
Fresh Spinach
1 Candy Onion
2 Roma Tomatoes

 

Ground Beef {I used 1/2 lb of 96/4 lean beef}

My Favorite Fab Four {Lawry's, Garlic Powder, Pepper, Worcestershire}

Basmati Rice {I used 1 rice cooker cup}

2 packets of Knorr Sazon con Culantro y Achiote {Coriander & Annatto}

1/4 tsp {or more} Cayenne Pepper

A Little Water

Shredded & Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese

The Process

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees{F}.

Cook your Basmati rice. I prefer my trusty rice-cooker, but if you for some odd reason like to cook your rice on the stove, then by all means, go right ahead.

While the rice is cooking, start to brown & season the ground beef. Toss in enough of My Fave Fab Four so that the meat actually tastes like something.

Dice & add the candy onions {or whatever kind of onions you prefer}. Note: I have a slight obsession with these candy onions that I find at my farmer's market. I don't know why, but I just do.

Dice & add the roma tomatoes.

By this time your rice should be done cooking, depending on how much you made. For a single girl like me, 1 rice-cooker cup is enough and cooks up pretty quickly.

Add the rice to the skillet along with the cayenne pepper and  two packets of the Knorr Sazon and a little water. You might need a little more water just to give it some moisture, but doing this a little at a time is better than baptizing your rice mixture too quickly.

At this point I added a little more black pepper and some other seasoning just to give it some additional flavor. If I remembered what I added I would tell you, but sometimes I just close my eyes and reach into the spice cabinet - whatever jumps in my hand goes in the skillet. It's quite fun really.

Add the spinach & shredded cheese last and give it a toss to let it wilt & melt a little before stuffing your peppers.

Cut & gut your bell peppers so the inside is hollow and void of seeds. So that my peppers stand up when they bake, I carefully even out the bottoms - be careful not to cut a hole into the bottom of your pepper when you do this. It's really not pretty.

Rub the outside of your peppers with a little olive oil, stuff, garnish with a little grated parm and bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are done and not burnt.

Eat one. Eat another one. The end.