Zucchini Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers Italiano Recipes

ITALIAN STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• To prepare the peppers, trim about 1/4-inch from tops of bell peppers. Snip around the core and then remove it. Place snug into a baking dish just large enough to fit the peppers.
• Brush or spray the inside of each pepper with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the peppers until just undercooked and firm (about 15 minutes).
• Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until translucent (around 4-5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook another minute.
• Add beef season with salt and pepper then let cook until browned. Break up the beef and toss it with onions and continue to cook another 2 minutes, Remove from heat, drain off excess fat if necessary.
• Stir in tomatoes and crush them with a spoon or potato masher. Mix in the cooked rice, parsley, basil, and oregano.
• Taste for seasoning and if needed, season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Spoon the mixture evenly into the roasted peppers. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese bake 20-25 minute or until the peppers are tender and the tops are crisp and golden. Serve warm.

CHEESY GROUND BEEF & ZUCCHINI STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Heat grill to medium-high heat.
• Brown meat in skillet; drain. Meanwhile, bring water to boil in large saucepan. Add rice; cover. Simmer 5 min. Remove from heat; let stand 5 min.
• Drain meat. Add to rice with zucchini and 1 cup each pasta sauce and cheese.
• Place 1 pepper half in center of each of 6 large sheets of heavy-duty foil; fill with meat mixture. Top with remaining sauce and cheese. Bring up foil sides. Add 1 Tbsp. water to each packet. Double-fold top and ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside.
• Grill 20 to 25 min. or until filling is heated through and peppers are crisp-tender. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening each packet.

EASY STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cook and stir the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat until the meat is browned, breaking the beef up into crumbles as it cooks, about 10 minutes. Drain off excess fat, and transfer the beef into a mixing bowl. Slice the zucchini in half the long way, and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh, leaving a 1/2-inch thick shell all around the zucchini. Chop the scooped-out zucchini flesh, and add to mixing bowl. Stir in the bread crumbs, garlic, spaghetti sauce, black olives, and Parmesan cheese; mix the stuffing well. Lightly stuff both halves of the zucchini with the meat mixture. Place the zucchini halves into a baking dish, and cover tightly with foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, remove from oven, and remove the foil. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese over each zucchini half. Move an oven rack to within 6 inches of the oven broiler's heat source, turn on the broiler, and broil the zucchini until the mozzarella cheese is browned and bubbling, about 5 minutes.

ZUCCHINI AND GROUND BEEF SKILLET

Steps:

• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground beef and onion in the hot skillet until beef is browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and discard grease.
• Stir mushrooms, tomato sauce, olives, and garlic into the skillet. Crush stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces and add to the mixture. Season with salt and white pepper. Let simmer, uncovered, until liquid reduces, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Slice zucchini lengthwise; cut into 1/2-inch slices and add to the skillet. Cook, covered, until firm yet tender to the bite, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in Cheddar cheese and cook, covered, until melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve.

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.

PEPPERS STUFFED WITH RICE, ZUCCHINI AND HERBS

Steps:

• Prepare the peppers. With a sharp paring knife, cut away the tops, then reach in and pull out the membranes and seeds.
• Toss the shredded zucchini with salt and let drain in a colander for 20 minutes. Take up handfuls of zucchini and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the garlic, mint, parsley or dill, and rice. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1/4 cup of the olive oil and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a baking dish large enough to accommodate all of the peppers. Fill the peppers about 3/4 of the way full with the stuffing, and replace the caps. Place in the oiled baking dish. Mix together the tomato paste and water with the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice. Season to taste. Add to the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil. Place in the oven and bake 45 minutes to an hour, until the peppers are soft. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature, or serve hot. Remove the tops of the peppers and spoon the sauce in the baking dish over the rice before serving.

BEEF-STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Cut zucchini in half lengthwise; cut a thin slice from the bottom of each with a sharp knife to allow zucchini to sit flat. Scoop out pulp, leaving 1/4-in. shells. , Place shells in an ungreased 3-qt. microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain and set aside. , Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef, onion and zucchini pulp over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat; stir in the marinara sauce, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup cheese., Spoon about 1/4 cup into each shell. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Microwave 3-4 minutes longer or until a thermometer inserted into filling reads 160° and zucchini are tender. If desired, broil zucchini 3 in. from the heat for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Serve with additional marinara sauce.

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.