I want that for dinner

It might be difficult to see from my past ooey gooey cheese posts, but I like to occasionally cook and eat meat. Note to Vegetarians- for this recipe, feel free to substitute morning star crumbles, or other soy substitutes. It is delicious and would work beautifully for this recipe

I am an Orthodox Jew, I keep kosher and I am Sabbath observant. If you are not familiar with Orthodox Jewish rituals, click the links to learn more. Why am I finally mentioning this now? It is my first meat dish on IWTFD! I do have to wonder…how many more male readers will like my website now??

I eat meat primarily on the Sabbath. I do not like the heavy feeling I get after eating red meat, and it is very pricey. Since I am cooking on a budget until my Husband graduates engineering school, you won’t see many fish or meat recipes; Kosher meat and fish can range from $4.99 a lb. to $30 a lb. for the fancier cuts. So I tried to make a little meat go a long way for this recipe. (Cheese and vegetables make my body feel better and they are cheaper, hence all of my past recipes are without meat.)

On the Sabbath, we try to have my husband’s single friends over for a meal, so they can enjoy a delicious home cooked meal. Ground beef is an inexpensive way to enjoy red meat, the perfect solution for a budget- concious family to feed a hungry crowd of guys.

In my previous stuffed mushroom post, you can see that I truly love stuffing vegetables. Here’s my new motto “Sautéing is so last year. Stuffing is all the rage in my kitchen!” These teeny cutie pies, aka Costco’s mini peppers, were delicious paired with the ground beef.

Follow along below for an easy, simple, and delicious moist way to serve your meat, or Morningstar Crumbles, side dish!

RECIPE

Ingredients

• 1 bag of mini peppers- (if you can’t get  giant Costco size, don’t worry! Use at least 15-20 mini peppers, whatever amount will fit in your 9 x 13 baking dish.)
• 1 16 oz jar of Trader Joe’s marinara sauce. (Why use any other brand? But if you must substitute, use any other delicious high quality marinara)
• 8 cloves of peeled garlic.
• 1 lb. of ground beef. (I used chuck.)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of quick cooking oats- or GF oats if you are gluten sensitive to regular oats.
• 1 teaspoon of the following spices:
• Red chili flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and add a little salt/ pepper to taste.

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
• Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with foil or parchment paper for an easier clean up. Pour an even layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan.
• Wash the peppers, cut their cute little stems off, and take out the seeds. Line them up to be stuffed
• Mix the meat with the egg, oats, and spices. Similar consistency to a meatball mixture.
• Armed with pepper in one hand, meat mixture in the other hand, gently stuff into the pepper. It will fill up quickly, so my trick was PATIENCE. Use a little meat at a time, and you will have a beautifully stuffed pepper.
• Repeat the stuffing step until all peppers are happily filled with the meat.
• Add cloves of garlic scattered across the pan like the picture above.
• Cover tightly with foil, and bake for 30-40 minutes until peppers are fork tender.

Enjoy your mini morsels of goodness! This is a nice mini appetizer and a twist on the”typical” larger stuffed  peppers.

Thank you for reading, and as always, enjoy your food, cooking, and have fun in the kitchen!

Closeup of the pepper collage above

See how juicy!

Hurry go make this recipe!!