This is one of my favorite go to make ahead meal recipes.  It’s easy, versatile, and delicious. You can make with the ground meat blend of your choice.  I’ve made it as a vegetarian dish by adding sauteed chard and spinach instead of meat.  You can use this stuffing with other vegetables like tomatoes or zucchini instead of peppers.  It’s fantastic as a family meal or dinner for one.  Best of all the stuffing freezes well and can easily be packed up in serving containers of your choice for an easy mid-week, healthy meal.

Ingredients:
1-4 bell peppers
1 minced jalapeno                          
1 chopped banana pepper
1 chopped onion
Calabrian or cherry peppers in oil – to taste
2 cups cooked rice or 1 package ready rice
2 1/2 cups of tomato sauce, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
1 pound of ground beef, pork or turkey – any combo

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute onions and peppers in oil from the hot peppers 5 minutes – till light golden brown. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes.  Turn off heat and add cooked rice along with 1 cup tomato sauce to pan. Stir together and let mixture cool.

Mix ground meat, beaten egg, and rice mixture and combine.  Add Parmesan cheese and stir till blended.

Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise, discard seeds membranes and stem.   Cover the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish with sauce.  Fill each pepper half with 1/2 cup of the meat mixture and place in dish. Cover each pepper with sauce.  Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

While peppers are baking portion out any remaining meat mixture into freezable containers.  I usually make batches of about 1 cup of meat mix (enough for 1 pepper). Pack, label and freeze.

Uncover baking dish and add small pieces of mozzarella to the top of each pepper half.

Bake uncovered 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly brown. Serve and enjoy!