Wednesday, September 25, 2013

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




10 comments:

  1. What a wonderful idea! Thank you. Your peppers look delicious.

    I have peppers sitting on my counter right now ready to be processed. I have plenty of peppers already chopped in the freezer for winter use in soups and stews and some dehydrated, so will make some of these frozen stuffed peppers today.

    We aren't fans of spicy foods, so I'll try an Italian creation with homemade seasoned Italian tomato sauce, onions, garlic, gluten free elbow pasta, some fresh garden herbs, organic hamburger browned and seasoned, organic Tuscan Herb Olive Oil, pecorino romano cheese, and medium cheddar cheese. After cooking, I'll add a dollop of very lightly sweetened whipped cream cheese for topping.

    Thanks again!

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  2. Wonderful idea! Thank you. For sharing!

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  3. I love your industry and foresight in planning as you practice good stewardship using what God has put into your keeping.

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  4. Our grocery store wants 99 cents for a green bell pepper and $1.79 for a red bell pepper. Aren't you the wealthy one?!!!!

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    1. Are you kidding me! Oh My : ( I haven't bought a pepper in years from the grocery and had no idea. I did see the other day that cucumbers were going for almost $1 each. Made me almost guilty for that bucket of culls that I fed to the chickens yesterday. I will say that my culls looked better than theirs they were selling.......

      And yes I do agree with you that I am wealthy and blessed in so many ways and thankful everyday for it.

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  5. Your Mexican Peppers sound wonderful.. I'll have to make them like that one of these days..
    M'honey isnt fond of much of anything Mexican (blasphemy!) so what I do with extra peppers I have is cut the stem & clalx out around the top of the shoulder leaving just a little bit of a shoulder lip.. then remove the seeds & top.. In a mixing bowl, I mix up a stuffing of raw hamburger meat, egg, rotel tomatoes, long grain uncooked rice, and Montreal Seasonings or garlic, pepper, & onion powder or granules. I mix that all up together & stuff the peppers, leaving a shallow indentation at the top. I freeze them, then Food Saver them & put in the freezer. When we go to eat them, I often just pull them from the freezer and put them in the pressure cooker or slow cooker with a little bit of water, adding either ketchup or thick tomato soup in the indent.. After cooking, I mix a little bit of tomato soup with the pepper flavored water from cooking and pour over the tops and mashed potatoes that go with it.. Its pretty tasty.. and its basically the same thing as Stuffed Cabbage Rolls except its in peppers instead of cabbage.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds delightful I shall have to try them your way some time : )

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  6. Oh my! I was wanting to freeze stuff my peppers and was wondering how to go about doing it. Now I know. Thank you.

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  7. these looks great...thank you for the idea/instructions

    re all those onions you have...well, I dehydrated some in my dehydrator (again I did it hotter/little longer than instructed)...OH MY GOSH..they are sweetly crispy, and I swear make a darn fine snack as is, but will also be great in much else.....just an idea, if you like that kind of thing.

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  8. I do something similar to this!! My recipe is simple. 1lb hamburger, 1 cup of dry rice, 1 onion chopped, 1 egg, 1 cup of your favorite spaghetti sauce and salt and pepper. Mix well and stuff then freeze then bag just like you do. Of course I double, triple and so on the recipe depending on how many peppers I am working up. The most I've ever done though is the year I was expecting my oldest. My family is VERY old fashioned and the old wive's tale is - Get a pregnant lady to walk through your garden and it will be plentiful. Well that year made a believer out of me. My mama and daddy made me walk up and down each row of their garden or I should say waddle up and down each row, lol and that harvest was the best I think that garden has ever done!! We stuffed 120 peppers in one day that year. and that was the tip of the iceberg!! Everything produced in crazy amounts that year. My daddy was so proud of that garden and his first born grandson who showed up early October!!

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