Peppers Stuffed With Rice Zucchini And Herbs Recipes

STUFFED PEPPERS WITH ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• 1. Prepare a square baking (or appropriate-sized) dish by spraying with oil or non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• 2. Cut off top of 6 peppers to fully remove stem and center rib. Scoop out any remaining ribs and seeds. Remove stem, ribs, and seeds from remaining pepper and chop.
• 3. Combine beef, onion and the 1 chopped pepper in a frying pan and saute over medium high heat until beef is no longer pink. If needed, drain excess fat from beef and return mixture to pan.
• 4. Add 3 tablespoons of tomato paste to beef mixture and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in rice, zucchini and can of diced tomatoes, undrained. Add salt to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon.) Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
• 5. Arrange hollowed peppers in baking dish so that they stand upright. It helps if the dish is just big enough to accomodate the peppers so that they help each other stand up. If necessary, trim bottoms of peppers with knife to create a flat surface. Generally fill each pepper with meat and vegetable mixture.
• 6. Mix remaining tomato paste with about 1/3 cup of water and stir to consistency of tomato soup. Pour over stuffed peppers. If needed, add more water to bottom of pan so that peppers are sitting in about a quarter inch of water. Top each pepper with 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese.
• 7. Very loosely tent pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes.

RICE WITH ZUCCHINI AND RED PEPPER

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan, then add the onions, garlic, zucchini and red peppers. Stir until wilted.
• Add the rice and stir to blend. Cook briefly. Add the thyme, bay leaf, coriander, chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, stirring, and cover tightly. Simmer for 17 minutes.
• Uncover, remove the sprig of thyme and the bay leaf. Stir with a fork to fluff lightly.

RICE-STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook beef, onion, chopped green pepper, garlic, salt and pepper over medium heat until beef is no longer pink; drain. Add the water, tomatoes, tomato sauce and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. , Stir in rice; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. , Remove tops and seeds from the peppers; cut in half widthwise. Place in a large pan of boiling water; boil for 4 minutes. , Drain peppers and stuff with meat mixture. Place remaining meat mixture in an ungreased 13x9-in. baking dish; top with stuffed peppers, pressing down gently. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour. In a saucepan, heat sauce ingredients until cheese is melted. Serve over peppers.

ZUCCHINI & GROUND BEEF-STUFFED PEPPERS ITALIANO

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Brown meat with onions in large skillet on medium heat; drain. Stir in 1/2 cup tomato sauce, zucchini, rice, oregano and basil.
• Cut tops off peppers; remove and discard seeds. Pour remaining tomato sauce and water into 13x9-inch baking dish; stir. Place peppers in baking dish; fill with meat mixture. Cover.
• Bake 35 to 40 min. or until peppers are tender. Top with cheese; bake, uncovered, 5 to 7 min. or until melted. Serve peppers topped with sauce from bottom of baking dish.