Last night we tried stuffed bell peppers for dinner. It was not good. Actually, that is an understatement. It was horrible. I had picked through several recipes on the Internet and never found one that I really liked. The one that I used was a combination of ingredients I pulled from different recipes. As an inexperienced chef, this was probably a huge misstep on my part. I was a little ahead of myself in thinking I could handle making up a recipe on my own. It didn't really seem that complicated, but I guess I should have paid more attention to the ingredients list and I would have seen that the seasoning just wasn't there. Here's a little description of how the night went and I'll post the horrid recipe if anyone wants to eat the most bland food they have ever tasted. We will be trying again in the future because I still have three stuffed peppers in the freezer and I refuse to waste food. Next time, I will be pulling the stuffing out of the peppers and remixing it with a lot of spices before re-stuffing the peppers and cooking them.
It all started yesterday morning when I realized I forgot to pull out a freezer meal to thaw overnight. All of the meals are pretty much hands free, but you have to let them thaw overnight before putting them into the crock-pot or before cooking them in casserole dishes. Because of my forgetfulness, I had to cook whichever one I thought could withstand being thawed out the day of cooking. I knew I could bake the stuffed bell peppers rather than using the crock-pot, so I pulled them out of the freezer and threw them into the fridge before running out the door. I got back home several hours later and at 6PM I decided to put the peppers in the oven. I baked the peppers at 350 degrees and tested them after 30 minutes. They were warm, but I felt they could probably use a little more cook time. I shoved them back in the oven and baked them for another 20 minutes while I made mashed potatoes per the kids' requests.
The second time I checked them, they seemed done. The pepper "shell" seemed soft enough to cut and when I tried to test the stuffing with my finger it was too hot to touch. We cut the peppers up and got started. I ate the potatoes first so the look on my kids' faces was the first clue that something was wrong. They don't like a lot of the things I cook though so I wasn't very concerned with the fact that they both had their tongues stuck out and were whining. My husband, the man that ate those military issued bag meals for 13 months overseas and will eat anything, took a few bites and kind of made a face. He smiled politely and I knew he didn't care much for it either. I was curious now so I took a bite. I think I spit it out. It was AWFUL! There was no taste. It was like eating cardboard. To make it worse, the texture was horrible.
I gave it a few seconds and pushed my plate away. I declared a fast food night and the entire room breathed a very audible sigh of relief. My two year old popped up and said, "That food is nasssssy (nasty) Mommy!" Unfortunately, he spoke the truth! My six year old patted my shoulder and said, "It's okay Mommy, we still think you cook other stuff good." Sheesh...
Tomorrow I will be posting on breakfast food instead of dinner, but I'll be back to freezer dinners by Friday! :)
Stay tuned and Happy Cooking!
With a little work, I'm sure this recipe would be delicious. The following should only be considered a "base" recipe. Fix it as you see fit!
Stuffed Bell Peppers
6 bell peppers (cut off the tops and remove the seeds)
1 lb hamburger meat
2 cups of rice
1 small onion
2 tsp oregano (I used dried)
2 tsp thyme (I used dried)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
small can of tomato paste (8 oz)
Cook the rice and meat. Dice the onion. Dice the tops of the peppers (cut around the stem). Mix all of the ingredients together and stuff the peppers. From here, you can wrap in aluminum foil and freeze in a Ziploc bag or you can cook them. For cooking- Cook the peppers on 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Check to see if they peppers are soft. If so, serve. If not, try cooking a little longer until the peppers are soft. If you freeze them, let them thaw overnight, and cook on low for 6 hours in a crock-pot OR try the oven option above.
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