Hey! I made this delicious and simple recipe to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Not a holiday I normally celebrate, but really, if there is a holiday that encourages the consumption of beer, chips, salsa and guacamole – count me in!

I had just bought a bag of red, yellow and orange peppers from Costco and thought this would be a delicious meal. The meat filling I used was basically the same filling you would use for tacos or burritos, but I added some cooked brown rice. Jordan said that she thought it was a great alternative to burritos. Donald loved it and said how much he enjoyed the peppers. He remembers when he was a kid his mom would make stuffed peppers using green bell peppers and how bitter they were. These were delicious and sweet and I ate the whole pepper.

Served with a salad and some fruit, it was delicious, hearty and colorful.

Stuffed Bell Peppers
1 pound ground beef
2 cups brown rice, cooked
1 onion, chopped
1 can beans. I used chili beans, so I didn’t drain them. If using black beans, I would drain and rinse.
1 T Taco seasoning
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes
6 – 8 bell peppers. I would highly recommend not using green
1/3 cup shredded cheese
Avocado slices for garnish

Cook ground beef and drain fat if necessary. Put ground beef back into skillet and add in chopped onion and cook until soft. Add cooked rice, taco seasoning canned beans and Ro-tel tomatoes. If the meat mixture is too dry add a bit more prepared salsa. You want the mixture nice and moist since you will be baking it for about 30 minutes.

While meat mixture is simmering start working on your peppers. Wash and cut each pepper in half and clean out the seeds and stuff, so you have a colorful little bowl. Place on a baking pan. Stuff with the meat filling and bake at 350* for about 20 minutes. I wanted the peppers to soften a bit, but I wanted them to stay a bit crunchy. After about 20 minutes, sprinkle with a small amount of cheese and continue baking for another 5 or so minutes. Remove from oven a serve immediately. We garnished ours with sliced avocado and Cotija cheese. Mmmm, delicious!

Cindy