Mexican Peppers

Even though we are over half way through September the produce still continues to come through the back door by the bucket full. The peppers are my crop of the week to deal with. 

The potatoes and onions are a close second of crops to deal with. I want to chop some onions to freeze for cooking and dehydrate some more potatoes. But first to deal with the peppers. 

These are the open pollinated variety California Wonder. They tend to do wonderfully for me planted in my flower beds along the concrete sidewalk. They flourish in the heat radiating from the concrete. So every year I plant them there and every year they provide me with an ample fall crop of beautiful peppers.  Some I allow to ripen and others I pick green. These are washed and ready to cook. 

You can dunk these in boiling water for 3 minutes but I just pop mine in the microwave for 3 minutes instead. I remove them and allow them to cool. 

I browned 2 pounds of ground beef and 1 pound of ground venison. Added 3 cups onions and a cup of red peppers chopped. Three cloves of chopped garlic and 5 Tablespoons of Chili powder. Then I added 1 quart of homemade tomato paste and allowed it to cook down for about 10 minutes on a low simmer. 

Then I grated some sharp cheddar. 8 ounces for every pound of meat.

Then let your meat mixture cool. And I added 1 1/2 cups cooked rice for every pound of meat and the cheddar to the cooled meat mixture. 

Now at this point you can get creative. I added a little hot sauce and some Mexican spices and red pepper flakes and some Worcestershire sauce . Don't forget salt and pepper. You can also add black olives chopped, black beans or maybe corn to the mix. Whatever your family likes.  

Now I stuff my blanched peppers with the meat and rice mixture. 

They go on cookie sheets once stuffed to be frozen overnight in the freezer.

Then they are ready to bag.

Four of mine fit nicely in a quart vacuum bag.

I now have 10 bags of frozen stuffed pepper meals conveniently frozen and ready for that winter meal in  a hurry. I simply take them out the night before and let them thaw in the fridge overnight. The next afternoon I put them in an 8" baking dish and spoon salsa over the top of each one and cover with aluminum foil. I allow them to bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half or until a meat thermometer stuck into one reads done for hamburger. Then I remove the foil and sprinkle some Mexican cheese mix over the top and put it back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. I serve mine with a cornbread salad and maybe Mexican corn.  My family likes a little scoop of sour cream over the top too.   

These are a great convenience meal for me on those days that I am quilting and I know that I have a hot dinner thawing in the refrigerator for the evening. These can also be placed in the crockpot on low for about 4 to 6 hours depending on your crockpot!

Don't like Mexican? Think pizza, ground beef or Italian sausage mixed, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers, pizza spices, tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella. Topped with pizza sauce and pizza cheese served with veggies and bread sticks.

Or maybe Italian? Broken spaghetti cooked or small pasta, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and Italian seasonings with chunks of mozzarella mixed in or maybe ricotta with mozzarella over the top.  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter