Vegetables for Dishes

Apparently, every time a new year comes around people make "resolutions" to help guide them to be "better people" or some such nonsense. Well, since I'm all about the bandwagon I thought I'd make one of these so-called "resolutions" and try to "eat healthier" or more such similar nonsense for 2013. Hopefully, veggies turn out to be cheaper than bacon, Ben&Jerry's Phish Food and Kraft "The Cheesiest" Spongebob macaroni and cheese. We shall see.

For my first experiment this evening, I adapted a recipe from the spare copy of Healthy: A Dierberg School of Cooking Publication that my mom gave me in 2010 when I first came to Minneapolis and have never removed from the shelf since, except when I moved to my new apartment. If you don't know what Dierbergs is, you're clearly not from West St. Louis County. It's ok, we can't all be. I'm sure they'll still let you try their recipes.

The major problem I face in cooking for my two-person household is that the other person in the household refuses to eat anything that doesn't have meat in it. Which is fine, I'm no vegetarian myself. And he's super nice about it; he eats some and tells me how yummy it is and then quietly doesn't finish the other half and I find it in the trash later and it's all good, more leftovers for me. But no one wants to be the girl who can't cook something to please a dude whose palate is so accommodating that he will eat one of those godawful cheese-sausage-hotdog things from the gas station (the ones that have clearly been slowly turning in the same spot for at least the past 3 months) and want a second one.

At any rate, I picked this because it has green peppers and couscous, both of which I like. Especially the word "couscous." Also I already had two boxes of couscous in the pantry that I didn't know what to do with. Also it has black beans in it, which my sister eats voraciously and she's in way better shape than I am, so they're worth a try. Also it has plenty of ground beef, of which I could add extra (at Rafe's request) or remove entirely if I don't want to pay for beef. (In which case Rafe can order pizza.) Finally, the whole damn thing is actually served in the green pepper, which I thought was cool and also might save me some dishes. (This turned out to not be true.) So, without further ado:

Couscous-Stuffed Peppers 

You'll Need:

This is really why I started this blog--so I can
take pictures of my food and put them
on the Internet without being one of
those Instagram people. Yay!

Bell peppers--any color. I used green bell because Rafe thinks the other colors "taste funky" and also they're like twice the price

Ground beef

Chopped onion

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 average-size box of couscous (1 C dry)

Seasonings of choice

Mozzarella cheese

The actual recipe calls for 4 peppers, halved and seeded. Since I was not trying to feed 4 people, I only made two, but didn't halve the other ingredients. This makes enough filling to fill, in my estimation, at least an extra pepper or two. (After the called-for 4.) Luckily, I have tupperware and now have tortilla filling for lunch tomorrow and the day after that and also maybe the next day. Also, I could just go out and get two new peppers and do the same meal were I so inclined. Variety is the spice of life (that and garlic salt) but I'm also poor.

Anyway, halve your peppers and put them in a baking dish with water at the bottom. Just a little, maybe a 1/4 cup, just enough to keep everything from drying out. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes til they're half-done. Softish. I don't know. It really doesn't matter. 20 minutes. Ish.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan with a lid, brown the beef. 1/2 lb. if you're going by original recipe proportions, but it's whatever. Throw in your chopped onions, however many looks good to you. Or a 1/2 cup if you're a stickler. I added mushrooms, too, just for the hell of it and because I really like to eat mushrooms and onions and beef straight from the pan. Not a joke. 2-3 minutes, just enough to start them cooking, then add the cans of tomatoes and beans (rinsed) and your spices. The original recipe called for Italian seasonings and Cajun spices. I didn't have the latter so I went with Italian and some paprika and a dash of cayenne, plus garlic salt (spice of life!) and season salt on the meat when it first went into the frying pan. (P.S.--I added paprika because it looks like something that could pass for a cajun spice, but WTF does it actually do? Amateur hour. Oh well.) 

Some suggestions: I don't like the Italian spices in this flavor combo. It just seemed out of place. I will not be adding them next time. However, I did enjoy the tiniest bit of heat from the cayenne. Then again, I'm not a spicy-food person. Rafe is. He probably didn't even taste it. So flavor how you like. My taste-tester did suggest the possibility of using taco-type seasonings instead of the Italian. I'm intrigued by the idea and will update this post if I try it in the future. Or use it at your own risk and remember it's the brainchild of the guy who eats the gas station hotdogs. 

Anyway, spice it up and throw in 1/2 cup of water. Boil, then add couscous. Cover, remove from heat for 5 min. Fluff with fork. (You know...follow the directions on the couscous box.) By now you should probably have removed your half-peppers from the oven. Dump the water out of the bottom of the pan. When the mix is done, spoon it into the pepper halves, cover with tin foil and bake again for another 25-30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle mozzarella over top, pop back in the oven long enough to melt the cheese and it's done. 

Unfortunately, due to the unstable nature of bell pepper half-bowls, you will need to serve them on a plate. 

Yum.