How to Make and Serve a Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Harvest time is here and bell peppers are bountiful and less expensive. I love stuffed peppers but I hate all the work of stuffing the peppers and getting them boogers to stand up in the pan. After many years of cussing and not getting the "Better Homes and Garden" look I found the solution. I take a 3 quart casserole and line the bottom and sides with strips of green pepper, fill the center with my meat mixture, top with the tops and bottoms of the peppers, flood it with my tomato sauce and bake. Here's my recipe and also a vegetarian version that is quite good.

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Ingredients

4-5 bell pepper

1 onion diced

1 cup leftover rice (day old is better)

1 ½ # ground meat (beef, pork, turkey, venison, groundhog)

1+ Tablespoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 Tablespoon Worcester sauce

1 jar of Italian Tomato Sauce

Directions

Cut top and bottom off peppers, remove seeds and cut sides into 1" wide strips, set aside. Mix meat, onions, seasoning. Spray 3 quart casserole, add about 1/3 jar of sauce to bottom, Cover bottom and sides with peppers slices, place meat in center and top with tops and bottoms of peppers, pour remaining sauce over top, cover and cook in preheated 350 oven 1 hour.

Substitutions

Make it vegetarian. Eliminate the ground meat. Replace it with 1/2 # Portabella mushrooms, ½ # garbanzo beans, and ½ # olives that have been ground together. The robust flavor of these substitutes is beyond words.

Another unique concept is to use hot banana peppers instead of the bell peppers. It makes a spicy dish and doesn't matter if you make it vegetarian or with meat.

Serving Suggestions

My favorite way to serve this dish is with whipped potatoes covered in the tomato sauce, enhanced with a Jello salad and a crusty black bread. The Queen Goddess prefers baked potatoes drowned in butter and sour cream

I have a special friend that can't eat peppers. She loves this concept since her lover can have his with peppers and she can have hers without.