southwestern stuffed peppers

Do you ever not feel like eating something after you make it?  Oh, that's just me?  Sometimes after I spend an hour or so in the kitchen, I just don't feel like eating what I've been smelling for the past hour.  It's like I already ate it once and the real thing just isn't interesting anymore.  (Strangely, this does not happen to me with anything involving chocolate.)

If you're like me, then you need recipes that don't take long enough for you to get uninterested in actually eating some protein.  My sister Julie introduced me to this one in December and it's become a quick favorite!  It's delicious, comes together in less than 10 minutes, and it makes great leftovers too. 

This recipe makes enough to stuff 4 whole peppers (8 halves), and you can customize however you like. (Obviously I'm not the customizing police so you didn't need my permission for that one.)

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients:
4 bell peppers, any color
1 pound lean ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1 package Uncle Ben's 90 second whole grain rice (or 1-2 cups rice), cooked
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can Rotel, drained
8 slices colby jack cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a skillet, brown the ground beef, then drain excess fat.  Add taco seasoning to ground beef and stir to coat.  Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine beef, rice, beans, and Rotel; mix to combine. Remove the stems from the bell peppers and then slice in half from stem to base (hotdog style!), making sure to remove the seeds. Stuff the pepper halves with the ground beef mixture.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and then place each pepper half, stuffing side up, in the dish.  Bake for about 20 minutes, then add the slices of cheese on top of each pepper and bake again until the cheese melts, about 10 minutes.

Source: inspired by Simply Love Food

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