Goal #22 — Note to self: Make a “Suzy Homemaker” cape and start wearing immediately. Alternately titled: I? Am AWESOME.
I have a confession.
Before Tuesday, I had never EVER in my life attempted to cook ground meat. In fact, the only time I can ever recall making any sort of meal with raw meat was when Joe and I made cranberry chicken, and he did most of the meat-touching-and-cooking.
So, naturally, I added #22 to my 101 in 1001 list, which is “Learn to make stuffed bell peppers,” because I knew that what I really wanted to do was learn to cook ground meat, but a) that’s embarrassing to admit, and b) I like stuffed bell peppers, so I figured I could learn to cook ground meat WHILE learning to make stuffed peppers, and thus avoid having to out myself for being a clueless wife who can’t even cook raw meat.
(Except I totally just confessed everything to you, so there goes THAT plan.)
Anyway, on Tuesday night, I did it. I cooked ground turkey and made it all up into some pretty darn delicious stuffed bell peppers. I didn’t burn anything (well, except some garlic I was trying to sautee for a separate side dish, but that was just because I was distracted), and I even tweaked the original recipe a little because I thought a couple things might make it better.
Did you hear that? I had the confidence, while preparing a dish for the First. Time. EVARRR!!, to tweak the recipe! This is big news, people.
I could get used to this whole domestic goddess thing…and I think Joe could, too.
(See the steam coming off the top? Mmm….)
(Recipe to come; I need to type up the TWEAKED version for y’all!)
Here’s the recipe! It’s adapted from here and here.
Stuffed Bell Peppers, a la Probably Tabitha
Serves: 4
Temp: 350 F
Time: about an hour from start to finish
Ingredients:
4 medium or large red bell peppers* (you can use any color; I tried red and yellow, and I liked red better)
1 lb ground turkey
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onions (I used red)
3 cloves chopped garlic (give or take; I think I’ll add more next time, but I kind of love garlic)
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper (which probably equated to at least 1/2 tsp when I did it)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1-lb can of diced tomatoes (I used a brand that was pre-flavored with some spices, which was pretty good, but plain should work fine, too.)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce (or, phonetically, “Worshter” — WHY ARE THERE SO MANY LETTERS IN THAT WORD??)
4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (or more like 6 oz, if you’re a cheese fiend like me), plus a little extra at the end
Instructions:
- Cut tops off peppers; remove seeds and membrane
- Sprinkle the inside of the peppers (lightly) with salt
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat
- Add onions & garlic; cook, stirring often, until soft & translucent (about 5 min)
- Add meat; mash it all up and cook until lightly browned** (make sure all the pink’s gone!)
- Add salt, pepper, tomatoes, water, rice, oregano and Worshter Sauce
- Cover & simmer (turn heat down to low (you probably knew that already, but I didn’t know what “simmer” meant)) until rice is tender, about 20 min
- Stir in cheese until melted
- Stuff peppers (really pack it in there!***), and add a bit of extra cheese on top, if desired (and isn’t it ALWAYS desired?)
- Stand peppers in a baking dish or cookie sheet with sides.
- Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.
Note: If you’re making this for two people, you can totally save the second half of the meat mixture, refrigerate it and make these another night. Just microwave it for a couple minutes before you stuff the peppers, and add another 5 minutes to the bake time.
*It’s really important that you get peppers that have a nice flat bottom so they’ll stand on their own. I screwed up the second batch because my peppers wouldn’t stand. I mean, it still worked, it was just messy because they came out of the oven and were on their sides.
**The lean ground turkey I used never really got “brown” — it just turned from raw pink to a whitish, maybe-slightly-tinted-brown color.
***TWSS.
Let me know if you try this, and especially if you try any tweaking to change/enhance the flavor. I liked it, but I feel like it could be improved.
Yuuuum! Good for you miss home-maker!
Good for you!! Thats so exciting Tabithia. I remember when I first started cooking, each new dish was an adventure, some worked, some didnt, but it was always a fun experiment! Can’t wait to read the recipe. =)
Have you ever seen the Foodnetwork show, America’s Worst Cook? It was a multi-week competition where two professional chefs tried to make terrible home cooks into amateur chefs. I think you’d appreciate the show. =)
Yay!! Looks delicious – and I have another recipe you could try with ground turkey. Cook it up in a pan with a pot of cream cheese and add a crapload of cumin until it’s all marinated in a thick, creamy sauce. Put it with some lettuce and salsa in one of those sundried tomato wraps, roll it up and put grated cheese on top, stick it in the oven for a couple of mins, and done! SO delicious and easy!
The only meat I eat is fish, but when I did eat other meat I was so squeaked out about handling it raw. Way to go. Stuffed peppers are delish.
Hee hee, congrats! I had a day of domesticity once. I cooked, I cleaned, I even sewed (albeit poorly!) Surprisingly, I rather enjoyed myself
Must. Have. Recipe!!!!!!
DaaAAaaAAaaD
Yum.
Now I’m hungry.
(Also love the way your dad signs his name on your blog. Too cute.)
I love stuffed bell peppers! SO good. You and me–conquering the kitchen one ingredient at a time.
Looks YUMMY!!! My mom always made stuffed peppers…but we cheat and buy the frozen ones from Smart & Final. :-\
I’ll tell ya, I love to cook but am certainly no Julia Child (especially when I must work and commute, blah blah blah). But since Wolf & I got married, my bestest friend in the kitchen has been my crock pot. LOVE. CROCK. POT. And if you ever get into that groove, I highly recommend http://crockpot365.blogspot.com (and her cookbook!)….
Have fun in Monterey! Can’t wait to hear what happens!
Oh my gosh, I totally know of crockpot365! I forget how I even came across it, but I was reading it around the last 50-100 days of the actual experiment, and had since forgotten about it. I’ll have to take a look again, cuz yeah — we have THREE crock pots, and basically the only time I use any of them is when I make my famous artichoke dip.
Oh that looks delicious! I cannot wait to see the recipe. I’d love to try it.
And you’re not alone. I always hesitate handling raw meat.
i’m proud of you. really.
i think once i have time, i SSOSOOOO want to learn how to ACTUALLY COOK stuff. instead of simply preparing food. of course, with all the foods i don’t really like, that could be a challenge. oh wells. i’m still gonna try.
Mmm. Those look delish. Well done!
I’m anxious to see the recipe. It looks delicious! I haven’t made stuffed bell peppers in years. Peppers (the mini ones) are fast becoming one of my absolute favorite veggies.