Stuffed Orange Peppers

To go with those tasty Cast Iron Breadsticks, I made Stuffed Orange Peppers. Oddly enough, this was a first. It was even a first for using frozen spinach. I think this stuff will come in handy for a few things later on! I love stuffed peppers. For some reason, they never come to mind when I think about dinner. The great thing is that they are easy and relatively quick. You can stuff them with anything from meat to rice to veggies. If you top it off with cheese, it is even better. Here is the version of stuffed peppers I made last night.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
3 orange bell peppers
2 cups of spaghetti sauce
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp fresh basil
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup frozen spinach
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
Extra parmesan cheese for the topping

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pull the stems off of each pepper and slice in half length wise. Remove the seeds and ribs from the inside. Wash each pepper and place in a greased baking pan. Meanwhile, put the ground beef in a pan on medium heat on the stove. Cook until you can no longer see pink. Then add the spaghetti sauce and cook for a couple minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, basil and salt & pepper. Stir and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the frozen spinach and 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese. Cook until the spinach is mixed thoroughly about 5-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and scoop about a 1/2 cup of the meat mixture into each pepper half. Top each pepper with parmesan cheese and place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted. Remove and enjoy!

The Cast Iron Breadsticks and these Stuffed Orange Peppers make a great combo! Especially since they both bake at 450 degrees and for about 20 minutes. If you make these together, I suggest that you put the peppers in the oven at least a couple minutes prior to the breadsticks. This will ensure they are both done and ready to serve at the same time.

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