Eye Appealing Stuffed Peppers

I stumbled across a webpage from The Kitchen Project about the history of bell peppers. There was a recipe from a cookbook in the article, " The Original Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Merrit Farmer" published 1896 stuffed peppers which was the inspiration behind this instructable. Although I did not use her recipe, it gave me the idea to tweak the method of stuffing it and modernize the ingredients typical for an heirloom recipe;using limited kitchen tools. Stuffed peppers have been around for a long time.

I added fresh ingredients to a store bought rice mix and tweaked the method for stuffing the bell pepper in an unconventional way for an eye catching appeal.

Planning meals in advance and organizing your kitchen time . . . by cutting extra veggies and cooking extra meat for the next day; is a great time saver.

Let's get started~

You can use as many fresh ingredients as you like, we are adding extra ingredients to the box mix to add flavor and nutrition to recipe. I recommend keeping pink salt and freshly ground pepper in the pantry because they add a lot of flavor and the salt has natural minerals that are not in regular table salt.

Ingredients:

1 Pre-cooked Box Rice A Roni, I used Chicken flavor or cook some up ( filled three large bell peppers)

1 Package Cornbread mix ( filled 3 large bell peppers)

Pre- cooked or raw chicken not fried ( I used 1 chicken thigh.)

3 large Bell peppers

3/4 Cup milk (I used canned.)

1 Egg

2 Tablespoons Olive oil or butter ( olive oil is more nutritious.)

Pink salt to taste ( Pink salt is a nutritious salt with minerals.)

1/4 to 1/2 Cup raw leafy dark greens for a salad ( have a lot of flavor and iron, & mixed with a lemon will help your body absorb the iron.

Approx 1/2 cup variety or chopped carrots, green onion, celery,mushrooms, tomatoes, or what ever you like.

Approx 1/8 to 1/4 cup Shredded Cheddar cheese or what ever you like (optional ) punch of flavor

I used a Cast Iron skillet but you could probably use any of these: slow cooker, multi purpose pressure cooker, toaster oven, stove top/oven.

Tin foil for supporting the bell peppers while you fill and bake them.

Knife, spoon, measuring cups, cutting board

Preparations:

Wash and dice your choice of vegetables.

Cook the chicken or meat if not using chicken or meat left overs.

If you are not using left over rice, brown the rice in olive oil or butter.

Add the cooked meat.

Add 1/2 of the raw vegetables.

Add water and cook mixture down according to the box directions.

While the rice is cooking prepare the bell peppers and corn bread mix.

Make the cornbread according to the box instructions; but do not bake at this time.

Procedure:

Cut the bottom off of the bell peppers and remove the white part carefully and the seeds.

Position the tin foil around the bell peppers to secure them so they will stand up.

Sprinkle cheddar cheese in the bottom of the peppers.

To add eye appeal to the peppers; you could cut tomatoes in circles using tomatoes large enough to bend slightly to go inside the pepper and angle them into the pepper by pushing down slightly on one edge, creating a design that can be seen after they are cut.

Method:

Fill the peppers with the rice mixture alternating with the remaining raw vegetable mixture about 3/4 the way full.

Top with the corn bread mixture.

Clean any food that is on the sides of the bell pepper.

Place the peppers into the cast iron skillet for baking in the oven or use the appropriate utensils I described earlier.

You will probably have enough rice left over for another meal.

Pre-heat oven to 325 to 350 degrees F

It took about 20-30 minutes to cook. I had the heat set at 425 and it was too high, so I lowered the heat. The corn bread puffed over the edge of the bell pepper so I cut off the top . . . level with the bell pepper.

Place the peppers on a plate of raw greens and drizzle with lemon juice.

I have never made stuffed peppers before and these were very good considering that they were made from a rice mix with the fresh ingredients added. I served some canned cranberry sauce with chopped celery and cilantro. I added too much cornbread mixture to mine and wound up with more cornbread in the bell pepper than what was needed.The should have added more rice filling to the bell pepper before I topped it with the corn bread mixture.

Serve as shown in the first picture and cut in half to eat.

I wish to thank Instructables and contributors for making this community a great place to share. Thanks for stopping by and do have a safe and happy holiday season ~

sunshiine~