Everyone has that one favorite meal their mom cooked when they were a kid. For me it was my mom’s stuffed bell pepper casserole. I would beg my mom to make it all time and I still cook it on a regular basis now. I would also make sure she made a big dish of it so I could have some to take to school the next day. It’s one of those rare dishes that I think tastes better reheated.

I could eat hamburger and rice alone and be totally satisfied, but when you add the onions, peppers, tomatoes, spices, melted cheese, and then marry everything together really sends this over the edge.

I love foods that have a kick of spice so I decided to take my mom’s classic recipe and amp it up by adding some heat from jalapeno peppers. I’m also big on incorporating fresh herbs in most anything I make, so I added fresh thyme with the onions, which gives it that amazing yet subtle aroma to the dish.

I removed half of the seeds from the jalapeño pepper. It came out with the perfect amount of heat.

To remove the small thyme leaves off the stem, slide your fingers down the stem stripping off the leaves.

Recently I discovered basmati rice and fell in love! It has a fragrant nuttiness flavor that you just can’t get with plain rice, so adding it to this dish was a no brainer.

If you get the urge to stuff the rice mix in bell peppers (I mean it does have “stuffed bell peppers” in the title) simply take about 6 or 7 bell peppers, cut off the tops, remove the seeds and membrane, stuff with the rice mixture, and bake for 45 minutes. I always just fix this as a casserole and not even bother with stuffing peppers. It’s like a great thinker once said: “Ain’t nobody got no time for that!”

As I stated before, this is so good reheated the next day, so I’ll make a dish just for myself and eat off it for a day or so afterwards. This has been a family favorite for years and I’m sure it will for yours too!

Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole

Ingredients

2 lbs ground turkey or beef
Olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 bell pepper chopped
1 jalapeno pepper chopped (remove seeds for less heat)
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 ½ cups basmati rice uncooked
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup beef stock
2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
Fresh parsley roughly chopped
Grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large skillet, brown ground meat, drain grease, and set aside. In the same pan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and thyme and cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the ground meat, bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, salt, beef stock, and rice. Cover with lid and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the cheese to the mix and stir until melted. Transfer the mix to a 9×13 baking dish and cover with tin foil. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for another 20 minutes. Top with parsley and parmesan cheese.