At the end of last week, I realized that I had 2 beautiful green bell peppers left from my co-op basket. Honestly, when I saw the green peppers in the basket, I was worried. Worried that they would go bad before we ate them. I’m just not a huge green bell pepper fan. Red, orange, yellow? YES! Green? Eh, not too exciting. I put some feelers out on Twitter looking for some recipe ideas and found someone who has a similar pepper predicament. Jane’s recipe idea sounds fabulous, and I can’t wait to try it next time. At the end of the week though, I wasn’t wanting to run to the store for more ingredients. My friend Heather suggested making a stuffed green pepper casserole which I also think is a great idea.
Then I searched Google and found this recipe and decided that I could alter it based on my preferences and what I had on hand. I have to tell you, these peppers were good! Everyone liked them including the kids. Joe kept saying, “Mom, this is really good!” like he was in shock or something. I ate the leftover filling for lunch the next day, and it was just as good without the pepper cup.
Here is the recipe I used based on my kitchen. Change it up based on what you have in the pantry, and have a quick and easy dinner in no time!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat large pot with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and zucchini, cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add sausages and seasoning, cook for another 3 minutes.
Add bulgur and black eyed peas, stir and let heat through.
Place green pepper halves into a square baking dish, cut side up.
Sprinkle bottom of green peppers with half of the cheese.
Fill peppers as full as you can with the sausage/bulgur mixture. Top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes. If cheese is not browned on top, stick under broiler for 1 minute.
Easy right?
You could use any kind of ground poultry, meat or sausage (or of course make it vegetarian), switch up the grain, try a different kind of bean, change the cheese, spices………
Easy Stuffed Green Peppers made with whatever is in your pantry
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 large green bell peppers cleaned and halved
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 1 package chicken & apple sausages chopped
- 1 can Eden organic black eyed peas rinsed and drained
- 2 cups bulgur cooked
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. paprika
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat large pot with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and zucchini, cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add sausages and seasoning, cook for another 3 minutes.
- Add bulgur and black eyed peas, stir and let heat through.
- Place green pepper halves into a square baking dish, cut side up.
- Sprinkle bottom of green peppers with half of the cheese.
- Fill peppers as full as you can with the sausage/bulgur mixture. Top with remaining cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes. If cheese is not browned on top, stick under broiler for 1 minute.
What would you substitute based on your pantry?
based on what I have right now, mine would have beans, shredded organic cheddar, quinoa, corn with red and green peppers mixed in (fiesta corn! ole!) annnnd maybe some rotel!
But I don't have peppers! time to go grocery shopping! <3 mine are still growing in their pots
xoXOxo
Jenn @ Peas & Crayons
Always love the idea of pantry-friendly recipes.
Based on my current pantry & fridge, I'd go with a black bean & brown rice, cumin spiced version… with our 50% reduced fat pepper jack cheese. Can't wait to try!
I love the idea of bulgar! I don't have any of that right now, but I do have quinoa – mmmm, that's sounds good.
Thanks for sharing!
That sounds great! I might try that this weekend- but I also don't have bulgar. Might have some quinoa, definitely have some brown rice, I might try that…..
your peppers look great! it was funny to see them though, because when i make stuffed peppers, i cut the top off and use the whole pepper to stuff – not the halves. i like the idea of getting two out of one pepper, though! next time that's how i'll do it!
I want to make this! I loooove green peppers this looks delicious!
looks delish and I am a big fan of whatever is in your pantry meals! we always eat up our fresh stuff first so we have a lot of dried beans and dried wild rice in the pantry that we could combine with some frozen veg.
I totally agree with you that red, yellow and orange peppers are superior! 🙂
Jenn, a fiesta filling sounds like a fun idea!
Regan, a smoky filling sounds good too.
Heather, the beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever you have on hand. Quinoa would be good too!
Sarah, most recipes I found included stuffing the entire pepper and parboiling the pepper first. Too much work for me! 🙂
I just found your blog and have been having a great time with the recipes alone. Can't wait to try all of them.
New follower, too.
Thanks Baye! I hope you enjoy my recipes 🙂
[…] to do something different with them this week, so I went searching for inspiration. I have a stuffed pepper recipe of my own, but it involves gluten and cheese, both of which I am avoiding now. I came across this recipe on […]
Just made mine with bella mushrooms, onions, yellow squash and sausauge with quinoa looks amazing. Thanks for the inspiration!