You more than likely have all of these easy ingredients in your cupboard, as well as your freezer. Filled with vegetables as well as hearty meat, stuffed peppers are a cheap and easy way to make a delicious meal for lunch or dinner.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup long-grain white rice
  • 6 bell peppers
  • 1 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
  • 1 1/4 lbs ground venison
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
  • 1 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup tomato sauce
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 3 Tbsps fresh parsley, minced
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook rice according to package instructions (you can also use leftover rice if you have any.)
  2. Meanwhile, trim about 1/4-inch from tops of bell peppers and then remove stems, ribs, and seeds. Fill a baking dish just large enough to fit peppers with about 1/2-inch of water.
  3. Place peppers upside down in the water, cover tightly with foil, and bake 20 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.
  5. Add diced onion and garlic, and saute 3 minutes. Move onions to one far side of the skillet.
  6. Add venison, making sure to break up the chunks, season with salt and pepper, then begin to sear the meat, about 2-3 minutes.
  7. Toss with onions and continue to cook until meat is cooked through with no more pink,  about 3 minutes longer.
  8. Remove from heat and drain off excess fat.
  9. Stir in canned tomatoes, 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, cooked rice, parsley, and Italian seasoning, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  10. After removing the peppers from the oven, reduce the temperature to 350. Turn par-baked peppers upright with tongs and fill with meat mixture.
  11. Pour remaining tomato sauce over peppers. Cover with foil and continue to bake 20 minutes.
  12. Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese (you also can replace 1/4 cup with parmesan), return to oven, and bake until peppers have reached desired tenderness, about 10-20 minutes (thinner peppers will be done quicker, but thicker ones will need more time).
  13. Sprinkle with parsley and serve warm.

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