Recipe: Stuffed Peppers (Vegetarian & Meat)

All the ingredients you'll need except, missing from photo, tomato sauce.

I don't think I have ever posted a recipe on this blog, so you guys might be a little thrown off today, but I really like the link-up that H&K Style Journey does each week called, Pinned It - Did It, so I thought I'd share this one with you. Also, because I'm in love with how both recipes turned out.

Fun Fact: When I was first talking with MJ about getting back into blogging back in 2011, I planned on making a cooking blog about making recipes easy for small kitchen and small budgets, because in grad school, I had both. But, I decided that a Pittsburgh-based blog would keep me entertained longer, because I love the city and only like cooking. But both of these recipes would have certainly made it to that blog - keep reading for the yumminess!

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa 

(Original recipe from Whole Foods, I did not follow exactly.)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus enough to oil the pan
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1 chopped pepper
6 bell peppers, cored and seeded; cut tops off and save for later
1/4 pound baby spinach
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups uncooked quinoa, rinsed and cooked according to package directions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until transparent. Add carrots, chopped pepper, cook until softened, 5 minutes. Add spinach and let wilt then stir in cinnamon, cumin and cooked quinoa, toss gently. Set aside until warm.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease baking pan with oil and set aside.

Divide mixture evenly among the remaining peppers, gently pack down and fully fill each one. Top each pepper with it's top and arrange upright in prepared pan. Bake until peppers are tender and juicy and filling is hot throughout, about 1 hour. Transfer to plates and enjoy!

Ready to bake! I cooked both kinds at the same time, so I separated them with the red pepper to remember.

Meat Stuffed Peppers

(Original recipe from It's Just Me.)

Ingredients

olive oil, to cover your baking pan

1 onion, chopped

1 chopped pepper

6 bell peppers, cored and seeded; cut tops off and save for later

8oz. Tomato Sauce

Shredded Cheese (I used Colby Jack) 

1 pound ground beef

2 cups uncooked rice, cooked according to package directions

Cook ground beef until brown throughout. Add onion and pepper, stirring occasionally, add tomato sauce, add to cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Set aside until warm.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease baking pan with oil and set aside.

Divide mixture evenly among the remaining peppers, gently pack down and fully fill each one. Top each pepper with it's top and arrange upright in prepared pan. Bake until peppers are tender and juicy and filling is hot throughout, about 1 hour. Add a pinch of shredded cheese to each pepper, between top and filling about 30 mins into baking time. Transfer to plates and enjoy!

Finished! Red pepper is vegetarian & green is meat - I served with garlic mashed potatoes and applesauce.

And that's it! Both are super easy and you can really add whatever you'd like to make 

them fit your taste. Hope you enjoy!