Stuffed Peppers With Zucchini Recipes

STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.
• Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)
• In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.
• Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

PEPPERS STUFFED WITH RICE, ZUCCHINI AND HERBS

Steps:

• Prepare the peppers. With a sharp paring knife, cut away the tops, then reach in and pull out the membranes and seeds.
• Toss the shredded zucchini with salt and let drain in a colander for 20 minutes. Take up handfuls of zucchini and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the garlic, mint, parsley or dill, and rice. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1/4 cup of the olive oil and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a baking dish large enough to accommodate all of the peppers. Fill the peppers about 3/4 of the way full with the stuffing, and replace the caps. Place in the oiled baking dish. Mix together the tomato paste and water with the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice. Season to taste. Add to the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil. Place in the oven and bake 45 minutes to an hour, until the peppers are soft. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature, or serve hot. Remove the tops of the peppers and spoon the sauce in the baking dish over the rice before serving.

RISOTTO STUFFED PEPPERS AND ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Combine the chicken stock, 2 cups water, the orange and lemon zests and the saffron in a pot, and bring to a low simmer.
• Halve the zucchini lengthwise and gently scrape out the center flesh and seeds. Chop the center flesh and seeds and reserve. Halve each zucchini again crosswise. Arrange the zucchini and bell peppers cut-side up in a baking dish. Drizzle with EVOO and season with salt and pepper.
• Heat 2 tablespoons EVOO in a round-bottomed risotto pot or pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook, stirring, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chopped zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, 2 to 3 more minutes. Stir in the rice, then add the wine and cook until evaporated, about 1 minute. Add the stock mixture a few ladles at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition and allowing the liquid to mostly evaporate before adding more. The rice will take about 18 minutes to cook to al dente. In the last minute or so of cooking, stir in 1/2 cup cheese, the butter and the lemon and orange juices.
• Scoop the risotto into the vegetables.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons EVOO and 1/2 cup cheese with the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over the tops of the risotto filling. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake until the tops are browned, 10 to 15 more minutes. Garnish with the parsley.
• Cook's Note: If you are not serving the dish immediately, fill the vegetables with the risotto and let cool (do not bake). Cover and store in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, bake as directed.

RATATOUILLE-STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Pour olive oil into a large pot over high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and add tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, tomato sauce, herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper. Stir in wine, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and simmer until vegetables are just tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Leave ratatouille warm in the pot until ready to use.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Arrange pepper halves, cut-sides down, in a 2-quart baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
• Turn peppers so cut sides face up. Mix 2 cups ratatouille with 1/2 cup Italian cheese blend; spoon into pepper halves. Cover loosely with foil and bake until peppers are tender and filling is heated through, about 25 minutes.
• Uncover peppers; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Continue baking until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes more. Garnish with parsley and top with black pepper.

STUFFED PEPPERS WITH ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• 1. Prepare a square baking (or appropriate-sized) dish by spraying with oil or non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• 2. Cut off top of 6 peppers to fully remove stem and center rib. Scoop out any remaining ribs and seeds. Remove stem, ribs, and seeds from remaining pepper and chop.
• 3. Combine beef, onion and the 1 chopped pepper in a frying pan and saute over medium high heat until beef is no longer pink. If needed, drain excess fat from beef and return mixture to pan.
• 4. Add 3 tablespoons of tomato paste to beef mixture and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in rice, zucchini and can of diced tomatoes, undrained. Add salt to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon.) Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
• 5. Arrange hollowed peppers in baking dish so that they stand upright. It helps if the dish is just big enough to accomodate the peppers so that they help each other stand up. If necessary, trim bottoms of peppers with knife to create a flat surface. Generally fill each pepper with meat and vegetable mixture.
• 6. Mix remaining tomato paste with about 1/3 cup of water and stir to consistency of tomato soup. Pour over stuffed peppers. If needed, add more water to bottom of pan so that peppers are sitting in about a quarter inch of water. Top each pepper with 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese.
• 7. Very loosely tent pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes.

ITALIAN-STYLE STUFFED PEPPERS OR ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Brown ground meat with onion and garlic. Add rice, water, and sauce. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is done.
• Meanwhile, shred cheese. Wash and split peppers or zucchini. Split the peppers into thirds or quarters, depending on size. Or split zucchini in half. Remove seeds from peppers or scoop out the seeded center of zucchini, leaving about 1/2 inch all around. Arrange peppers or zucchini in a 9"x13" or 10"x15" pan, hollow side up.
• When the meat-rice mixture is cooked, turn off heat. Add 1 1/2 cups cheese and stir until melted. Stuff the peppers or zucchini. Top with remaining 1 cup cheese and 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce. Bake uncovered at 350F for 30 minutes for peppers, or 45 minutes for zucchini, until heated through and sauce is bubbly.

ZUCCHINI & GROUND BEEF-STUFFED PEPPERS ITALIANO

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Brown meat with onions in large skillet on medium heat; drain. Stir in 1/2 cup tomato sauce, zucchini, rice, oregano and basil.
• Cut tops off peppers; remove and discard seeds. Pour remaining tomato sauce and water into 13x9-inch baking dish; stir. Place peppers in baking dish; fill with meat mixture. Cover.
• Bake 35 to 40 min. or until peppers are tender. Top with cheese; bake, uncovered, 5 to 7 min. or until melted. Serve peppers topped with sauce from bottom of baking dish.

STUFFED PEPPERS WITH CHORIZO & SPINACH

Steps:

• 1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. 2. Cook whole grain in a pot using package instructions. Set aside when cooked. 3. Add olive oil to a large fry pan over medium heat. Using a knife, cut down one side of the sausage to open the casing. Add sausage to oil and using a spoon or spatula to break apart the meat so that it cooks evenly. When cooked set sausage meat aside in a small bowl or add directly to the cooked grains. 4. Once the sausage is removed from pan, add extra oil as needed to prevent sticking. Over medium-low heat, add minced garlic and grated zucchini. Stir to combine ingredients until slightly softened and fragrant. Add oregano and basil to the veggies and stir. Add salt and pepper as desired. 5. Once the vegetables are cooked, add them to the bowl with rice and sausage. Stir to combine all ingredients that will be the filling for your peppers. 6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise and discard the ribs and seeds. Place peppers facing upward and stuff with rice and meat mixture. 7. Cook for 20-25 minutes until peppers are slightly softened. 8. Remove from oven and add cheese to the top of each stuffed pepper. Continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and peppers easily pierced with a knife.

CHEESY GROUND BEEF & ZUCCHINI STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Heat grill to medium-high heat.
• Brown meat in skillet; drain. Meanwhile, bring water to boil in large saucepan. Add rice; cover. Simmer 5 min. Remove from heat; let stand 5 min.
• Drain meat. Add to rice with zucchini and 1 cup each pasta sauce and cheese.
• Place 1 pepper half in center of each of 6 large sheets of heavy-duty foil; fill with meat mixture. Top with remaining sauce and cheese. Bring up foil sides. Add 1 Tbsp. water to each packet. Double-fold top and ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside.
• Grill 20 to 25 min. or until filling is heated through and peppers are crisp-tender. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening each packet.