Happy New Year!! I pray that 2010 is a blessed and prosperous year for all of us. I’m setting my expectations high and looking for good things all year long.
It seems that I have neglected my blog and Twitter friends during the holiday. December was an incredibly busy month for me but with the New Year I’m getting back on track. I hope I didn’t lose too many of my followers due to my lack of posts.
I’ve never been one to follow the New Year’s food traditions of black eyed peas, greens, pork etc. for good luck. I don’t even like the work luck but that is a whole different topic. I usually just make whatever I’m hungry for. New Year’s Day is usually football food. These bell peppers probably wouldn’t be considered football food but they do make a really yummy meal. And they are easy too.
This recipe comes from my pastor’s wife (I modified it a bit as noted). She is an amazing woman and hails from the Louisana bayou so this recipe has Cajun roots. Thanks so much Stacy for sharing it with me. Stacy is touching Northwest Arkansas and the world with the love of Jesus. You can visit her blog at www.stacyhenagan.com.
Cajun Stuffed Bell Peppers
-Onions (I used 1/2 of medium onion chopped fine)
-Garlic (I used 4 cloves – cause I loooove garlic)
-Celery (I omitted the celery because I don’t like the flavor it adds)
-1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey
-2 to 3 small cans of tomato sauce
-1 teaspoon of tomato paste (optional. I omitted this and so does Stacy’s mom because we like ours sweet)
-Sugar (your preference how much. I put around 2 to 3 tsp.)
-Asiago or Parmesan cheese (Stacy says this is optional but I would say NOT – the cheese adds incredible flavor)
-1 to 2 cups cooked rice
-4 – 6 bell peppers
Cajun seasoning
Other seasoning
Addtional cheese (Optional)
1. Cut just tops off bell peppers and clean out inside. Boil in salty water until they turn lighter green. (don’t boil too long or they will be mushy and fall apart and you won’t be able to stuff them) Set aside and cool.
2. Saute your seasoning vegetables down. Add your tomato sauce and optional paste, and sugar and seasoning. Cook down for a while (until it turns sort of orange and the bitterness is gone. Good enough to where you would use it for a spaghetti sauce. where it actually taste good enough to eat!)
3. Brown ground beef or turkey in another pan and add to sauce after the sauce has cooked to your preference. (I cook the beef and vegetables together and so does Stacy’s mom.)
If you were adding shrimp, boil or saute them and throw in the sauce too. (This would be the true Cajun version)
4. Grate cheese in mixture and stir all together. However much you want. I like the flavor it adds.
5. Add rice cup at a time. You don’t want it to be dry!!
6. Taste and make sure it’s good. If not add salt and additional Cajun seasonings to your taste.
8. Stuff fully into pepper, grate additional cheese over top (if desired) and cover with foil.
9. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 min. then reduce to 350 degrees for an hour.
You may have meat mixture left over but no problem. Makes a great lunch the next day in a burrito or even over tortilla chips.
thanks,
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