Stuffed Peppers Recipe | How To Make Healthy Italian Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Hey guys, it's Dani. Now this year my hubby and I planted a small vegetable garden in the backyard and one of the veggies that we planted was bell peppers. So I thought it would be the perfect time to show you guys how to make my mom's clean and delicious Italian style stuffed peppers. Now this was a meal that I grew up eating and it was one of my favorite meals that my mom made so it makes me really happy to now get to make it for my family and for you guys who are like my extended family. It is a wonderful family meal because it makes a lot of food and it's also a great head start ingredient to make on the weekend when you're doing the rest of your meal prep. Now it's a very simple recipe but there are a few steps involved so let me show you how it's done. Now the very first thing I do is get a nice big pot of water coming to a boil on my stove. Then while my water is heating up I like to prep my peppers. First thing I do is lay them on their side and just trim off the tops. These make a great little snack for the chef. Then I slice them in half lengthwise and scoop out all of the seeds. Now this recipe is going to use anywhere between six and eight peppers depending on their size. Then I take a nine by eleven glass baking dish and I scoop a half a cup of canned tomato sauce down on the bottom of the dish and just spread that around a bit. Now I like buying the sauce that already has a little bit of garlic and basil in it because it adds more flavor without needing to add an additional step. Once my water is at a boil I gently drop my pepper halves into the pot and set my timer for five minutes. This is going to take that raw edge off the peppers and ensure that they are nice and tender. Then once the peppers are done I use some tongs to take them out and I like to let them cool on a clean dish towel. And while my peppers are cooling I'm going to work on the stuffing. I've got a large non-stick saute pan heating up over a medium-high heat and to that I'm going to add just a teaspoon of olive oil. You really just need enough olive oil to get the veggies started. Once that oil has heated up I'm adding in one chopped onion and four cloves of chopped garlic. Give that a pinch of salt and let it cook for about five minutes until the onion and the garlic are beginning to look translucent. Next I'm going to push all those veggies to one side of the pan because let's be honest who wants a dirty another pan? And I'm going to add in one pound of lean grass-fed ground beef. I'm going to season that with a little bit more salt and some black pepper and then I'm just going to break it up a bit and I'm going to let it cook stirring it occasionally for about five minutes or so until the meat is nice and browned up on the outside and then I'll also start mixing the veggies into the meat. Then when it's all browned up and it's all mixed together I like to stir in two cups of cooked brown rice, one cup of frozen peas, I don't defrost them I put them right in there frozen, and two more cups of the canned tomato sauce. Gently stir that all together and then I'm just going to let this simmer on the stove for about 10 minutes or so to let all those flavors come together. Quick tip for you guys the next time you're at the grocery store look for brown rice in the freezer section. Frozen brown rice is a super convenient ingredient to have on hand because it cooks in the microwave in literally two minutes so it is a huge help when time is not on your side. And now I'm just going to shut off the heat let the filling cool down just a little bit and then I'm going to stuff the peppers. Now each pepper gets about a half a cup of the filling depending on the size of the pepper and then once I have it stuffed I just line them up in my baking tray and then I'll just keep going until I've got all the peppers stuffed. Then to finish them off I add another dollop of tomato sauce right on the top of the pepper that's going to help keep it nice and moist while it's cooking and then just about a tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese over the top. You're going to do that until you've got all your peppers ready to go. Now from here you have two options you could cover this up and leave it in the fridge until you are ready to cook it you could leave it in the fridge for a couple days if you wanted to make it ahead of time or if you're ready to cook it now you're just going to put it into a 350 50 degree oven for 30 minutes or until they are heated through and your cheese has melted over the top. I love a combination of the ground beef with the rice and then the pop of those peas and the tender pepper and of course that melty cheese on top this literally brings me right back to my childhood. I can tell you this is a recipe from my family to yours so I really hope you guys get to give this one a try and when you do snap a picture and then tag me on Instagram and Facebook and let me see the deliciousness that you are whipping up in your very own kitchens. Now if you guys want to print this recipe make sure you head on over to cleananddelicious.com where you can print this and all my recipes and thank you so much for watching. I'm Dani Spies and I'll see you next time with some more clean and deliciousness. Cheers! Now the very first thing I do is get a nice big pot of oil. Once my water is boiling I gently drop my peppers into the pot and let it cook for about five minutes until the and let it cook for about five minutes until the onions and garlics are begin...garlics.