Red and Green Recipe

The traditional  colors of Christmas seem to be red and green,  although we all have our favorite combinations.  The last few years my Christmas tree ornaments and decorations have been in cream and burgundy.   But this year I went back to red and green since I decorated a little pencil tree instead of our larger tree. The larger ornaments didn't fit the small tree, so I used gold and red on the green tree--a more traditional look.

If you love red and green, you might like this recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers.

2-3 Green peppers, parboiled
1 cup rice
1/2 cup sharp cheddar--cubed
1/2 cup leftover meat of choice
1 can stewed tomatoes

Core and parboil a pepper for each person that you are serving. (2-3 medium to large peppers for this recipe, depending on pepper size.) Make sure you do not over cook the peppers.  They should be only slightly soft, not limp. You can steam them in a large sauce pan with about 3/4 inch of water in the bottom.  That is enough.

Prepare a cup of rice of your choice as instructed on your package.  After it is finished cooking, add to the cubed sharp cheese, and any leftover meat that you chose.  I often use ham, but you can use cooked ground beef (maybe leftover from taco night), cubed sausage, or leftover pork pieces.    Mix the meat, cheese and rice together.  Set aside.

Open the can of stewed tomatoes, Mexican style if you have it. Place the parboiled peppers in an oven dish and spoon a bit (1-2 Tablespoons) of tomatoes into each parboiled pepper, then fill them up with the rice mixture.  When finished filling all the peppers this way, spoon the remaining tomatoes over the peppers. Place the peppers in a 375 degree oven for approximately 15 to 25 minutes.  Do not over cook--the purpose of this process is just to heat clear thru the pepper mixture melting the cheese.

Plate the hot peppers and add garnish and other vegetables/selections as desired.      

 Enjoy!