Orange bell peppers are a natural for October meals ! You can treat them like a pumpkin....slice the top hat, clean out the seeds, cut out the face, and stuff and bake.
I've made stuffed bell peppers many many times. I do think they may not agree with everyone...but I love how easy they are to make and how good they taste.
I saw this cute Idea on pinterest....it is exactly what I've done for years.....cut the top off so it has a hat, with a handle...and then clean out the inside seeds, and stuff with vegetarian meatloat-type stuffing. So, what a fantastic idea....to make them look like Jack O'lanterns!
You can stuff lots of things inside...here's a few things I've done over the years.
mash up leftover burgers, rice, cooked vegetables, cheese chunks, stewed tomatoes, cooked sweet potatoes.......it's a great way to use up a few days of leftovers for stuffed peppers....They're easy to prepare and cook ..put them in a pan, lightly greased, in a 350 oven, for about an hour until the peppers are soft.
I usually pre-cook the peppers for 10 minutes in the microwave....let them cool....and then cut & stuff. Then, it only takes about 20 minutes to heat up in an oven.
I changed the top hat style of stuffed peppers because I knew my family wouldn't eat a full stuffed pepper....I cut them in half lengthwise, after clipping the stem short, and then ....I cut the eyes and smile Jack O'lantern style!!
For my birthday party dinner, I mashed up a carton of tofu, a can of stewed tomatoes, italian seasoning, a teaspoon of honey, and the bits of the pepper eyes and smiles. I pre-cooked the 5 peppers in the microwave for 10 minutes, and let them cool. I snipped the stem short, then cut them in half lengthwise, and cleaned out the seeds. I cradled the half pepper in my hand, and with a sharp knife, I cut the eyes and the smile....I only cut a slit for the nose, thinking it would split and be too "holey"....I think I shoulda just cut the noses. (next time).
Then I turned them over, still cradled in my hand, and packed them full of the vegetarian tofu mixture, and quickly placed them face side up, in a greased pan. I put them in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.
The family ate about half of them....so success! It was a very yummy dinner with a mixed green salad, potato salad, Jack O'Lantern peppers.....but....
They really went crazy for the Taco Pie.....that's the next foodie bloggie post!
