Anastacia's Stuffed Green Bell Peppers

Welcome to the step-by-step instructions of crafting stuffed peppers from scratch. This detailed set of instructions is intended for those individuals who are learning to navigate the kitchen, those who are experienced in the kitchen and for everyone who loves a hearty dish. This is a personal take on a recipe which I have created and perfected over the years with trial and error with several attempts made. Please feel free to add or remove ingredients to fit your personal preference, Additionally, this procedure requires multi-tasking and can take up to an hour and a half from start to finish if done in the correct order. It is important to follow step by step to ensure the best possible outcome for this meal!

Step 2: Gather the tools/utensils needed for this procedure:

1. One 9 X 13 Baking Dish
2. Potholders
3. One large frying pan
4. A large pot
5. A medium size saucepan
6. Cutting board
7. Kitchen Knife
8. Oven/Stove
9. Colander/Strainer
10. Can opener
11. Ladle/ Large spoon
12. Spatula.
13. Tongues
14. Scissors

1. 6 large Green bell Peppers
2. One medium red bell pepper
3. One medium orange bell pepper
4. One yellow bell pepper
5. One medium sized white onion
6. Fresh Garlic Cloves
7. 2, cans of Hunts tomato sauce
8. 2.25 lbs. of lean ground beef
9. Success Boil-in-a-bag Rice
10. 2 cups of creamy melt mozzarella shredded cheese
11. Pam Nonstick cooking spray
12. Salt
13. Ground Pepper
14. Italian seasoning
15. Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and wash your hands before beginning.

Rinse the green bell peppers in water. (Some produce comes with product stickers on them from the grocery store, be sure to remove them and wash the residue off of the peppers at this time.)

Using a cutting board, cut the tops off the green bell peppers, If the bell peppers are very rounded on the bottom you may use a knife to cut off a very small piece on the bottom of the pepper so that it may “stand” when set down. Be careful not to puncture the inside of the pepper from the bottom. (WARNING: Use caution when utilizing sharp objects, The peppers may be slippery.)

Core the green bell peppers from the top and throw the seeds away

Rinse the green bell peppers again with water, ensure that all of the seeds have been disposed of and place them into a large pot for cooking. Fill the pot with water and place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Boil the peppers until they are soft enough to poke a fork through without resistance or to your personal preference. (The rationale is that boiling them makes them soft and tender, this is a crucial step)

Following the Directions on the box, bring two bags of rice to a boil in the medium saucepan for the specified time directed. ( When using the “boil in a bag rice,” you remove the proportioned bags of rice from its box and  submerge the whole bag of rice into the water and leave the contents in the plastic packaging as it cooks) (Cooking tip: When the water inside the pot is bubbling at a constant rate this is a good indication that water has reached a boil, be mindful to watch the pot to make sure it does not boil over as this could be a risk for burns/injury.)

While the water is reaching a boil, using your kitchen knife a safe manner, dice ½ a white onion, mince the garlic, and dice ½ a red, ½ orange and ½ a yellow bell pepper.  (Side note: It is important to remember to remove the first layer of the onion prior to dicing because this layer has a tough texture and can be hard to cut and may affect the texture of your dish, Additionally, when mincing the garlic, I recommend puling back the layers of the garlic to expose two cloves to mince up, If you like garlic you may want to mince up three cloves. It is important to dice your vegetables into very small pieces because biting into a big piece of garlic or onion may overpower the taste of your meal. Furthermore, when cutting up the bell peppers, be sure to core them and remove the seeds prior to dicing so that you do not have seeds in your meal.)

Place the Large frying pan onto the stove on medium heat. Add one tablespoon of olive oil and your diced vegetables to the pan and sauté them until the onions are translucent in color. (be sure to monitor the vegetables so that they don’t burn, you should use a spatula to stir the vegetables around the pan as they cook.)

Remove the ground beef from the packaging and Add the ground beef to the pan/ Large skillet with your vegetables and brown the meat, (You can use your spatula and break the ground meat up in the pan into smaller pieces, this will help ensure that the meat is cooked evenly. Be mindful that the pan may be hot, and that the meat may produce grease, and proper precautions should be taken to ensure that you do not get burned, it is advised that you wear protective clothing on skin., like an apron.)  

After the meat is brown and cooked fully, Drain the grease from the pan using the colander and return the skillet and place it setting on the burner to low heat. (Use potholders when holding pan to reduce risk of injury.)

Drain the cooked rice, and all if to the skillet with the ground beef, along with salt pepper and Italian seasonings to taste. (When using the rice in a bag as picture above, I would recommend placing the whole bag into the strainer using tongs and allowing it to cool then cutting the top off of the bag and carefully dumping the contents of the packing into the skillet slowly.)

Using a can opener, open one can of Hunts tomato sauce and Add half of the contents of the 29-ounce tomato sauce to the skillet, stir all ingredients and allow them to simmer. While the ingredients in the skillet are simmering, drain the water from the peppers into the colander, and let the bell peppers cool. Once the bell peppers are cool to touch place them into the 9 X 13 baking dish with the open top facing upwards. (To simmer, means to allow the food to cook on very low, stirring occasionally, it will bubble a vey small amount in comparison to a boil.)

Turn the burner to the skillet off and cautiously, using the ladle/large spoon, scoop your mixture from the skillet and fill each green bell pepper to the top.

Using the can opener, open the remaining can of hunts tomato sauce and dump it into the pan surrounding the green bell peppers.

Top the bell peppers with mozzarella cheese, You may use as much or as little cheese as you desire, I recommend using at least a 1 ½ cups.

Place the baking dish into the oven and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until the cheese on top is a golden-brown color.

Remove baking dish from oven using oven mittens, allow dish to cool, serve food and enjoy!