Pork Stuffed Green Peppers
Pork Stuffed Bell Peppers
Making a change of pace in how our family is eating healthier, as well as becoming more active is proving to be challenging, as well as rewarding. One of the best ways is by introducing healthier meals that will bring the family back to the dinner table.
This utilizes fresh ingredients (except for one can), some time, and the ability to multi-task.
I will provide some suggestions on how to prep the necessary ingredients ahead of time so that one is able to toss them in when ready. Or, you can follow the recipe and prepare the entire meal without preparing any of the ingredients before hand.
Ingredients
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Prep the ingredients
1 lb Ground Pork (not pork sausage)
- 1 Hothouse Tomato
- 3 Large Green Bell Peppers
- 1/2 cup chopped Mushrooms
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped carrots (baby carrots work the best)
- 5-6 fresh Basil leaves
- 1/8 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1/8 tsp Pepper
- 1 Garlic clove, chopped
- 1 can (drained) Italian style diced tomato
- Shredded Parmesan, Asiaga, and Romano cheese blend
- Salt
- Splash of Sherry cooking wine
5-6 Basil = 1/4 cup
If you are going to prepare some of the ingredients before hand, the best thing to do is prepare the mushrooms, onions, carrots, celery, and hothouse tomato. Don’t worry if you do not have anything fancy to keep these in. Ziploc bags work great, however, the best thing to do is if you have a large plastic container with a lid, mix the onions, celery, and carrots in one, and the mushrooms, garlic, and basil leaves in another, smaller container. One can also prep these ingredients before browning the Ground Pork.
In a medium skillet, lightly brown the ground pork. Do not season it yet, just let it brown as you break up the meat as much as possible. Cook on a medium, medium -low, or medium-high setting.
Browning the ground pork
Once the ground pork is lightly browned, remove from the stove, drain any fat that may be present, and then mix the carrots, onions, and celery in a WOK. I prefer this method over a larger skilling because it is much easier and not as messy. However, if you do not own a WOK, one of two things can happen, brown the ground pork in a larger skillet and then add the carrots, onions, and celery, mixing the ingredients together. Allow this to simmer on Medium-Low heat while preparing the Bell Peppers.
Thoroughly mix in the carrots, onions, celery and seasoning
Utilizing a sauce-pan (large enough to fit 6 halves of the Green Bell Peppers) fill with water and bring to a boil. Add salt to the boiling water.
Cut the Green Bell Peppers in half, lengthwise, remove the seeds and membrane, rinse them out, and place the halves into the boiling water. Boil for two-minutes. Remove from the boiling water, place the halves face down onto a paper towel covered dish.
Once these are prepared, turn back to the ground Pork mixture and stir in a splash of Sherry cooking wine. Change the heat setting from Medium-low, to Medium-High and mix well.
Add in the garlic, fresh Basil, Mushrooms, Red Pepper flakes, pepper and a pinch of salt. Stir constantly until thoroughly mixed.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet/flat baking pan.
Remove the mixture from the stove and let cool for a moment.
Bell Green Pepper Halves
Place a good size amount of the Ground Pork mixture into each Green Bell Pepper half and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet/flat baking sheet.
Slice the Hot house tomato in half. Place one half on the side and take the other half and then slice (should end up with about 6 t0 8 slices) that in 1/4 inch thick slices. Place one slice of tomato onto the stuffed Green Bell Pepper. Place in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes.
The last five minutes, sprinkle salt over the stuffed Green Bell Pepper and then add the three cheese blend, carefully covering the entire tomato slice. Place back in the oven and allow to cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes (ensure the slice tomato is Al Dente and not to soft).
While the Pork stuffed Green Bell Peppers are cooking for the last five minutes, prep the salad by dicing up the remaining tomato half (save the left over slices for sandwiches). If you want to prepare your own salad, this can be done as well, or just simply buy the already packaged salad blends (I usually go the latter route).
Plate the salad and Pork stuffed Green Bell Pepper. I used Artisan Honey Wheat Bread to compliment the entrée.
If you would like, you can also mix in cooked Jasmine rice with the Ground Pork mixture as well.
Another vegetable to add is a 1/2 cup kohlrabi with the onions, carrots, and celery.
Hope your family enjoys this healthy meal.
I’m going to try this recipe eventually when I get some time. It looks sooooooo good.
It was really good