Stuffed Green Peppers

I made this back before I left for Colorado, but just now having the chance to share.  This was an easy dinner- I just made a little extra to freeze for a future dinner.   Stuffed Green Peppers are an all-time comfort food and can be prepared fairly healthy as well.  This dinner was prompted by the fact that we happened upon a sale at the store advertising 3 green peppers for a $1.00.  Hubby can't pass up a deal and we ended up with ten green peppers. (We actually bought 12, but used two for another recipe.)  Hence, the reason for stuffed green peppers.  I chose to substitute ground turkey sausage instead of ground beef in my mixture. If frozen, you can even warm them up in the crock pot during the day for an easy, wholesome dinner.

Ingredients:

4 green peppers

1 lb. of lean ground meat (beef, turkey, or Italian sausage) 

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

dash of garlic salt

1 15 oz. can of Italian diced tomatoes

1 jar or can of spaghetti or tomato sauce 

I started be steaming my rice first.  I have a rice cooker, so I used this while I was able to concentrate on cutting the tops off of the peppers, de-seeding them, and cleaning them.

I began to brown the meat.  Next, I chopped up the onions. Once the meat was thoroughly browned, I added the onion. After the rice was cooked, I added this to the meat mixture on the stove.

My next step was to add the can of diced tomatoes.  I like this added touch and it adds a bit more body and flavor. 

I let this warm slightly on the stove, remembering to give it a good stir every now and then to keep it from sticking. While I did this, I poured about 1/3 of the tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan.  

(*Note: I made a batch of four and then a batch of 6 for the freezer, so this is my "freezer" pan.)

I then scooped out a generous amount of the meat and rice mixture into each green pepper and very carefully arranged them in the pan. This was difficult to do in such a spacious pan.  My advice would be to make sure that you buy peppers that are fairly "flat" on the bottom so they "sit" better.  I did not think of this in our green- pepper-buying frenzy and was somewhat regretting it at this stage of the game...

Once I had the peppers arranged and ready to go, I poured the remaining tomato sauce over the top.  I like them saucy. 

Bake in the oven for approximately 40 minutes at 450 degrees.  Remember to periodically spoon the sauce in the pan over the peppers to keep them from drying out.  Feel free to top with cheese if that is your thing. 

If you would rather freeze, cover with foil and freeze the pan for dinner some other night. 

Enjoy! 

Cheese Tortellini Bake

I have been quite busy lately and only had the chance today to cook for my "Freezer Friends" group.  The swap is tomorrow, but my hubby will be standing in for me at the actual swap due to work obligations. I am not usually such a procrastinator, but I am happy to say it is all done and ready to go.  The upcoming week will be a busy one with three nights of parent-teacher conferences.  Then I am lucky enough to depart on a road trip over my spring break back to Colorado.  I am both eager and nervous about this trip, as I think it will be somewhat heart- breaking to return. I think I still miss it too much.  Hopefully you will see one more post form me before I leave.

Needless to say, I needed a quick make-ahead meal for the swap tomorrow.  My category this month was pasta so I chose to do a tortellini bake- pretty quick and easy comparatively speaking. Not much prep needed for this freezer meal.

Here are the ingredients listed for one family's serving:

• 1/2 pound ground beef or turkey 
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 zesty Italian dressing
• 1 can 10 oz. beef broth
• 18 oz. cheese-filled tortellini or ravioli
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

If you plan to make freezer meals, as I did, you will need to multiply the recipe times the number of families you are cooking for.  Therefore, I multiplied this recipe times 8.  Six of these will go the families that I swap with, while the extra 2 are in my freezer for some later time when I need a quick meal. 

Of course shopping for ingredients can be a real saver if you are smart.  If you are a member of Sam's Club or Costco, it can be helpful to buy your ingredients in bulk. However, I find that availability of the ingredients you need can be somewhat hit or miss.  One place I like to shop is Aldi's with the exception of produce (never fresh).  For boxed and canned food, as well as cheese, I can find a REAL deal here when buying for this purpose.  I bought all of the above ingredients (x8) at Aldi's and spent $50.46 total.  At $50.46 divided by eight meals, this comes out to be $6.31 per meal.  Remember, that each meal is enough to feed six people for one night.  For Sam and I, this can easily feed us for two to three nights.  Quite a bargain if you ask me! 

First I browned all the meat in two big pans on the stove.  I added some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic.  

Next, I let the meat cool and measured out about a 1/2 pound of ground meat into eight Ziplock one-gallon bags.  The next part is the best part. Why?  Because it is SO simple!  Take each bag and pour in the beef broth, Italian dressing, diced tomatoes, jar of spaghetti sauce, and lastly, the tortellini.  

Once the bag is sealed, mix the ingredients together. Lay the bags flat. Here are a couple of the bags of tortellini bake after all ingredients were added and mixed. 

In a separate bag, I included the cooking instructions (also posted on Facebook on our group page) and 1 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese.  I attached these to the larger bags by stapling them above the seal. 

The directions for reheating are as follows: Thaw. Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes or until tortellini are tender. Remove foil. Stir. Sprinkle with cheese. Let stand for five minutes until cheese melts and serve. 

Of course, this does not have to be a make-ahead meal at all. You can simply brown the meat and pour all ingredients directly into a baking dish and cook according the above directions.  Enjoy!