Green Pepper Casserole

I was speaking with a friend from blogland today day.  We got to talking about recipes and I told her about this particular recipe and how it came about.  I got tired of making lots of stuffed green peppers and throwing most of the green peppers in the garbage…after the boys ate the stuffing out of them.

It’s been a while since I shared a recipe out here so thought I’d share this one.

Ingredients:

• 1# ground meat (beef or turkey)
• ½ cup chopped onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ½ cups water
• ½ cup uncooked long grain rice (I use Minute Rice – if you use a long cooking rice, you will need to increase the cooking time)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 large or 2 small green peppers – chopped
• ½ teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• 2 cups shredded Italian Style Cheese (any combination of Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, Romano, Fontina & Asiago)
• 2 cups bread – cubed
• 8 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Brown the ground meat, onion, and garlic; breaking up the meat well until it is fully cooked. When I use ground turkey, I add a tablespoon of olive oil or bacon grease since it has a tendency to be a bit dry.
3. Once browned, add water, rice, and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and simmer until rice is tender – approximately 15 minutes. (If necessary, add water 1 tablespoon at a time).
4. Stir in green peppers, all spices (except garlic powder), and cheese.
5. Pour into 8 x 11 casserole.
6. Combine melted butter and garlic powder (if used).
7. Add cubed bread to melted butter and toss until all bread is coated.
8. Spread over casserole.
9. Bake uncovered for 20 – 25 minutes until topping is crispy and golden brown.

Notes:

• Can use all plain Mozzarella Cheese rather than adding any Italian Style if you would prefer.
• Can be doubled – just bake in a larger casserole dish.
• Can be frozen (I freeze into individual servings). To reheat, completely unthaw, add approximately a tablespoon of water per serving, and microwave at 50% power for 1 minute, stir and heat until desired temperature.
• Would not suggest using brown rice in this recipe unless you precook it.

 
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and if you try the recipe, as always, I would love any feedback you would care to give.