Simple Stuffed Peppers

My husband really likes stuffed peppers, and while my son won’t eat much of the pepper shell (he boycotts most vegetables), he does like the filling (and I manage to sneak in some veggies there). I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light and it has become a family favorite. 

Ingredients
1-2 cups cooked rice, cooled 
4 medium bell peppers (green, yellow and/or red)
3/4 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey or ground chicken)
1 cup chopped onion
1/8 tsp allspice
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups pasta sauce, divided
1/2 cup (2 oz) grated Parmesan cheese

• Cook rice and cool.
• Preheat oven to 450º
• Slice tops off peppers, dice edible portions, and set aside
• Remove seeds and cores from peppers (discard those!), place peppers cut side down in a microwavable dish, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2-3 minutes (until crisp-tender)
• Dice onion
• Brown diced onion, diced peppers and ground beef, then drain
• Add the spices and 3/4 cup to 1 cup pasta sauce and heat through
• Stir in cheese until uniformly mixed
• Stir in rice until uniformly mixed
• Place peppers cut side up in an oven-proof baking dish and fill with rice mixture
• Spoon pasta sauce over top of each pepper, covering the filling completely
• Cover with foil and bake for 20 min
• Remove foil and bake for 5 more min

I always have enough extra filling left for another dish.

I still haven’t figured out the perfect rice-to-meat ratio–I usually end up feeling like there is too much rice–but my guys don’t mind.

Do you have a favorite stuffed peppers recipe?