Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

This past weekend I had a houseguest up to visit me from Atlanta. As most New Yorkers know, having company can get very expensive. Besides hitting up all of the tourist attractions you’ve seen a million times, ultimately you end up eating out way more normal NYC living. I’m always SO thankful when a friend comes into town with a realistic view of wanting to know with its really like to live in this concrete nightmare. I always try to make a point to cook for my out of town guests in order to give a reality check of what living in the city is really like. It’s not at all as glamorous as your vacation and my Facebook status makes it seem–

This past weekend my vegetarian friend came to stay with me and I was excited to recreate a stuffed peppers recipe I had made for her the last time she was in the city. I used morningstar meat crumbles which taste exactly the same as ground beef but have way less fat content(and we all know that’s an important fact if we’re going to get to ‘project birth weight’ skinny right!?)

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
4 green peppers
3/4 cup Panco bread crumbs
1 lb ground beef or meat substitute
1 egg
1 cup Mexican blend cheese
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 plum tomato, diced
1 packet taco seasonings

Preheat oven at 325 degrees. Brown your meat in a skillet(draining the excess fat if necessary). Return to heat and add in taco seasonings following directions on the packet. In a bowl combine meat, egg, cheese, bread crumbs, beans, and tomato.  Cut off the tops of your peppers. Using a spoon, scrape out all of the inner white ribbing and seeds of the peppers. Fill each pepper with your mixture and bake in a square dish for 30-45 minutes until the tops are browned. Add some more sprinkles of cheese to the top and melt it for 5 more minutes. 

 

These peppers are super easy to prepare and leave you with time to spend with your guests. When you go to the store to pick your peppers you may be wondering about the differences between the green, yellow, and red varieties. I wondered the same thing actually because they were all at different price points.  A quick search on wikipedia shows that “Green peppers are less sweet and slightly more bitter than yellow or orange peppers, with red bell peppers being the sweetest.”…. Who Knew?! So tailor your recipe to how much sweet or bitter peppers your taste buds feel like dealing with 🙂

Happy Cooking

~Charlie