As a child I was a very picky eater. No cheese on my burgers (I cannot believe I ever shunned cheese), no lettuce on my tacos, meatloaf had a gross texture, and I almost always had an aversion to anything green – unless it was a kiwi fruit. I used to say that the only vegetables I liked were carrots, corn and potatoes. Needless to say, but this dish here was one of my least favorites. But like this dish and many others I didn’t want to ingest, I was told that I had to take three more big bites (after painfully trying to eat most of it) and then I was allowed to be done.

Thankfully I overcame my fear of vegetables (and most importantly cheese on my burgers). I think it had a lot to do with on-campus eating selections while in undergrad. The Ohio State University had an large range of places and things to eat, but after awhile I got bored due to my selectiveness and started trying new things. So here I am today eating many things I would have immediately stuck my tongue out at during my early years on this planet. Those who did not know me before college probably wouldn’t believe I used to be a picky eater. Although I still dislike meatloaf as I cannot get over the consistency. Bleh.

Since I like green peppers today, I asked my dad for his recipe for stuffed green peppers wanting to give them another chance. Apparently he didn’t have a recipe specifically for them, but apparently uses his recipe for stuffed cabbage. I changed a couple of things, such as eliminating the sauerkraut, and the end result? I now like stuffed green peppers!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice, cooked

4 green bell peppers, that can stand up on their own

1 small onion, diced

1/2 tsp garlic, minced

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 lb each ground beef and Italian turkey sausage

2 tomatoes, diced

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 tsp chili powder

1-1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

10.75 oz Healthy Request condensed tomato soup

16 oz BBQ sauce

2 Tbsp sugar

1/8 cup water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cut off the pepper stems, remove seeds, and hollow out (save pepper scraps for next step). Sprinkle the insides with a little salt and pepper. Place in a baking dish.
2. Dice pepper scraps. Melt butter in a medium skillet, then saute pepper, onion and garlic until tender. Remove mixture, then cook ground beef and Italian turkey sausage until lightly browned.
3. Put the pepper mixture back into the pan with the meat, add the diced tomato and dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes. Then stir in cooked rice and 1 cup cheese, until just melted. Stuff the filling mixture into the peppers.
4. Mix together in a medium bowl the tomato soup, BBQ sauce, sugar and water. Pour over peppers and into the baking dish.
5. Cover the peppers with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, put remaining 1/2 cup cheese on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven, uncovered, and bake 5 minutes more, or until cheese is melted.
6. Spoon sauce from pan onto plate and serve stuffed peppers on top.

Source: Adapted from My Dad’s Koluky (stuffed cabbage)