Unstuffed Pepper Casserole
I have made stuffed bell peppers once or twice. They look really neat, but it's actually too much pepper and not enough filling for my family's taste. Plus, it takes too much time to stuff, so here's the unstuffed, casserole version that was born in my kitchen. We've never looked back!
Unstuffed Pepper Casserole
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 cup brown or white rice
2 cups chicken broth or water
1 lb ground sausage*
1 onion, diced
2 bell peppers, diced
2 handfuls kale or spinach, chopped
1.5 cups mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Cook rice in broth or water according to package directions. *The rice will need to be fully cooked by the time your sausage is done, so if you are doing brown rice it will need to be started 45 minutes before the rest of the meal preparation.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat large cast iron skillet (14 inch) on med-high. Add sausage, onion, and pepper. Cook until sausage is browned and vegetables are soft.
Add kale and cook until wilted, around 2 minutes. Add rice and 1 cup of cheese. Stir until everything is well incorporated. *We're leaving the grease from the sausage in the pan to flavor everything. If you have an abundance of grease, drain some of it before adding the other ingredients.
Sprinkle the last half cup of cheese over the top and bake 30 minutes.
Recipe Notes:
If you don't have a large cast iron skillet, you can cook your meat in your normal cooking pan, mix all the ingredients together and then transfer to a 9 x 13 baking dish for the oven.
Feel free to throw in different veggies! This is a great place to use up that random cup of leftover vegetables you have sitting in the fridge.
Switch out the rice for whatever cooked grain you like. Quinoa and couscous are both good options.