Deniz and I were doing Mexican taco/burrito this week and saw beautiful baby sweet bell peppers on sale in the grocery store. We decided on a whim to also make stuffed peppers. The turned out so delicious, we had to add a post so we remember the recipe. We gobbled up 6 peppers in the span of 5 minutes. Guilty, and yet healthy pleasure.
Ingredients:
- 12 sweet baby red/yellow/orange bell peppers
- 6 Morningstar Original Vegetarian Sausage Patties
- 2 t taco seasoning
- 1 t salt
- 4 chipotles from a can marinading in adobo sauce, chopped
- 1 box of cheesy broccoli rice or ½ c plain rice
- ½ c shredded mexican cheese or cheddar cheese
- 1 Knorr Vegetarian bullion cube
- 1 T tomato paste
- 1 c water
- ½ t corn starch
- 2 T cilantro (optional)
Instructions:
Toast the veggie sausage patties in the oven for 14 minutes on 400°F. Pulse the toasted patties a food processor (or chop manually) to a ground beef consistency. Heat 1 T cooking oil in a large saute pan on medium high heat. Add 1 t of the taco seasoning and salt and stirfry for 30 seconds. Add the toasted ground patties, 2 of the chopped chipotles and stirfry for 1 minute longer. Transfer the ground patties into a large bowl.
Prepare the rice according to package directions. Add 1 c of the prepared rice to the large bowl with the ground patties. Add the shredded cheese to the bowl. Mix to combine well. This is the filling for your peppers.
Cut the tops off of the peppers, remove the seeds and veins to make a hollow space for the filling. Fill each pepper with filling, pushing the filling in to stuff well. Leave about ½ of the pepper unfilled. The filling will expand to the top during cooking.
Dissolve the bullion cube, tomato paste, the remaining 1 t of taco seasoning, the remaining 2 chopped chipoltes, and water in a small pot.
Carefully place each stuffed pepper in the pot so that the open ends are facing up and stay facing up when the pot is on the stove. Cook covered for 20 minutes on medium heat.
Remove the peppers from the pot, leaving the sauce behind. Dissolve the corn starch thoroughly in the sauce, ensuring no particles remain. Reheat the sauce on medium heat while continually stirring until the sauce thickens. Pour the thickened sauce on top of the peppers. Garnish with cilantro.
