Pizza Stuffed Peppers

Although my garden peppers are not ripe for the picking yet, I'm test driving some unconventional ways to use them. The following recipe was adapted from Hungry Girl. 

I ate these delicious pizza stuffed peppers for lunch today and found them to be very satisfying!

Ingredients:

2 Bell Peppers 

(any color will do)

 1 cup of mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup of onion, chopped

1 cup of lean ground beef, *seasoned*

 (I used leftover seasoned ground beef that I had used to make hamburgers the night before)

3/4 cup of pizza sauce 

(I used store-bought)

 1/2 cup of low fat shredded cheese 

(I used 2% Mexican blend)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with cooking spray.

Slice bell peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds and stems.

Place bell peppers cut side up into the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, or until slightly softened.

In the meantime, spray a skillet with nonstick cooking spray and satuee the onions and mushrooms on medium high heat until the onions are translucent. Set them aside when they're done.

Brown the seasoned ground beef in the same skillet. Drain the fat once the meat is browned.

Add pizza sauce to browned ground beef and combine.

When the peppers are done, remove them from the oven and blot them to remove moisture. Fill each pepper half with 1/4 of the beef & pizza sauce mixture, followed by 1/4 of the mushroom & onion mixture.

Sprinkle shredded cheese over all of the pepper halves and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

You can enjoy 2 (TWO!) pizza stuffed pepper halves for a total of 7 points plus values!

Enjoy!

Crowd-Pleasing Italian Meat Sauce

As I mentioned in a previous post, we hosted a gathering for all of our church leaders last week. I have very little experience cooking for large groups so I was a little nervous going in. I decided to serve pasta and Italian meat sauce because it goes a long way, it's cheap, and it is really easy to prepare. It also goes well with simple sides like salad, garlic bread, and a veggie. I adapted a recipe I found online, and it turned out to be a great success. This recipe feeds 30-40 adults. As far as pasta noodles, 4-5 pounds should be enough. If preparing this sauce for my family, I divide everything by 4, and it turns out just as delicious. We usually have leftovers, but, in my humble opinion, spaghetti sauce leftovers are even better the next day!

**Pay attention to the ounces in this recipe. The can sizes may not be what you're used to buying. 

Crowd-Pleasing Italian Meat Sauce 

 Ingredients

• 4 pounds ground beef
• 4 large onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cans (28 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) tomato paste
• 1 can (29 ounces) tomato sauce
• 3 cups water
• 2 cans (4-1/4 ounces each) chopped ripe olives, drained
• 2 cans (4 ounces each) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 4 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons pepper

Directions

Cook 2 pounds of beef, 2 onions, and 2 cloves of garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Add the cooked meat mixture to a large stock pot and cover to keep warm. Repeat the process with the rest of the beef, onion, and garlic. Once all the ground meat is cooked down with the onion and garlic, add the rest of the ingredients to the large stock pot. Simmer over a low heat for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Serve over pasta. 

Ingredients (minus the ground meat)

Browning ground meat to add to the stock pot.

When I say large stock pot, I mean large.

Enjoy!