This is a meal I got a lot as a kid.  My Grandma would make it for my Mom, or my Mom would make it at my Grandma’s and make us all think Grandma made it when really she was too sick to do so.  My Grandma/Mom made it with minute rice.  I’ve updated the recipe by adding brown rice couscous.  You can get brown rice couscous from Lundberg.

http://www.lundberg.com/products/roasted_brown_rice_couscous/Savory_Herb_Roasted_Brown_Rice_Couscous.aspx

Anyway… It brings back good memories for me.  And its really easy to make, and freezes well.  And if you don’t like bell peppers (which I don’t) you can just eat the middle and skip the whole stuffing and baking part.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 – 4 bell peppers.
• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• ½ Onion, diced
• 1 or 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 box Brown Rice Couscous (you could also make 1 cup of aborrio rice to 2 cup water)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional – Diced fresh basil
• Optional 3 Cloves Garlic

DIRECTIONS

1. Follow instructions on box and prepare brown rice couscous.
2. Place Olive Oil in a nonstick skillet and heat.
3. Brown onions (and garlic) in skillet and then remove the onions from the pan.
4. Add ground beef or turkey and cook until browned.
5. Add onion (optional garlic) into pan and incorporate with the meat.
6. While the pan is still hot, add the canned, diced tomatoes.  Scrape the bottom of the skilled with a wooden pan to help loosen the cooked meat residue.
7. Mix the couscous into the meat/tomato/onion mixture and remove from heat.
8. Optional – add some fresh basil to mixture.
9. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
10. Carefully cut the top off the bell peppers.  Clean out the white parts of the inside of the peppers and remove all the seeds.  Stuff the hot mixture inside the peppers.
11. Put peppers on a cookie sheet and bake for about 1 hour.  I sometimes cover them with tinfoil so they don’t brown too much.