Zucchini Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers Italiano Food

ITALIAN STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Fill a 6-quart pot 2/3 full with hot water. Place over high heat on the stove and cover.
• Rinse the peppers and pat them dry. Cut out the stems and slice each pepper in half. Scrape out the seeds and membranes and discard them.
• When the water is boiling, carefully place the pepper halves in the pot. Boil the peppers for three minutes.
• Carefully drain the peppers in a colander in the sink. Use tongs to turn the peppers so the cut sides face down, allowing the water to drain out of them. Let them sit in the colander as you make the meat filling.
• Peel the onion and chop it. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Grate the Pecorino and shred your mozzarella, if needed.
• Add the ground beef to a 12-inch skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon. After a minute, stir in the chopped onions, red pepper flakes and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is browned and the onions are tender. If the meat is lean enough (90%) you shouldn't have to drain any fat. If you have lots of liquid, drain most of it.
• Stir in 1 1/2 cups of marinara sauce to the meat mixture. Stir in the rice (if it was frozen, thaw it in the microwave first.) Add the Pecorino Romano and stir to combine. Cook the mixture for a couple minutes, or until it's heated through.
• Prepare a half sheet pan or a 10x15 baking pan for the peppers. If using a sheet pan, line it with foil and grease it with cooking spray. If using a 10x15 pan, just grease it with spray.
• Add the drained pepper halves to your baking pan, cut side up. Scoop about three tablespoons of the meat filling into each pepper half. Add more meat as needed, until each pepper half is filled to the surface. Scatter any extra meat filling around the peppers in your pan.
• Sprinkle each pepper half with two tablespoons of shredded mozzarella. Gently pat the cheese onto the peppers.
• Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F. Then, broil the peppers for two minutes to brown the cheese, if desired.
• While the peppers are baking, gently rinse your basil leaves and pat them dry. Stack a few leaves, roll them up, and slice them into ribbons. When the stuffed peppers are done, sprinkle the basil on top and serve with extra marinara sauce. Refrigerate leftovers for up to four days.

ZUCCHINI AND GROUND BEEF SKILLET

Steps:

• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground beef and onion in the hot skillet until beef is browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and discard grease.
• Stir mushrooms, tomato sauce, olives, and garlic into the skillet. Crush stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces and add to the mixture. Season with salt and white pepper. Let simmer, uncovered, until liquid reduces, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Slice zucchini lengthwise; cut into 1/2-inch slices and add to the skillet. Cook, covered, until firm yet tender to the bite, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in Cheddar cheese and cook, covered, until melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve.

STUFFED PEPPERS WITH ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• 1. Prepare a square baking (or appropriate-sized) dish by spraying with oil or non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• 2. Cut off top of 6 peppers to fully remove stem and center rib. Scoop out any remaining ribs and seeds. Remove stem, ribs, and seeds from remaining pepper and chop.
• 3. Combine beef, onion and the 1 chopped pepper in a frying pan and saute over medium high heat until beef is no longer pink. If needed, drain excess fat from beef and return mixture to pan.
• 4. Add 3 tablespoons of tomato paste to beef mixture and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in rice, zucchini and can of diced tomatoes, undrained. Add salt to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon.) Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
• 5. Arrange hollowed peppers in baking dish so that they stand upright. It helps if the dish is just big enough to accomodate the peppers so that they help each other stand up. If necessary, trim bottoms of peppers with knife to create a flat surface. Generally fill each pepper with meat and vegetable mixture.
• 6. Mix remaining tomato paste with about 1/3 cup of water and stir to consistency of tomato soup. Pour over stuffed peppers. If needed, add more water to bottom of pan so that peppers are sitting in about a quarter inch of water. Top each pepper with 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese.
• 7. Very loosely tent pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes.

ITALIAN-STYLE STUFFED PEPPERS OR ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Brown ground meat with onion and garlic. Add rice, water, and sauce. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is done.
• Meanwhile, shred cheese. Wash and split peppers or zucchini. Split the peppers into thirds or quarters, depending on size. Or split zucchini in half. Remove seeds from peppers or scoop out the seeded center of zucchini, leaving about 1/2 inch all around. Arrange peppers or zucchini in a 9"x13" or 10"x15" pan, hollow side up.
• When the meat-rice mixture is cooked, turn off heat. Add 1 1/2 cups cheese and stir until melted. Stuff the peppers or zucchini. Top with remaining 1 cup cheese and 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce. Bake uncovered at 350F for 30 minutes for peppers, or 45 minutes for zucchini, until heated through and sauce is bubbly.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE-STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cut each zucchini lengthwise in half. Scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/4-in. shell; chop pulp. Place zucchini shells in a large microwave-safe dish. In batches, microwave, covered, on high 2-3 minutes or until crisp-tender., In a large skillet, cook sausage and zucchini pulp over medium heat 6-8 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink, breaking sausage into crumbles; drain. Stir in tomatoes, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, herbs and pepper. Spoon into zucchini shells., Place in 2 ungreased 13x9-in. baking dishes. Bake, covered, 15-20 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake, uncovered, 5-8 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. If desired, sprinkle with additional minced parsley.

BEEF-STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Cut zucchini in half lengthwise; cut a thin slice from the bottom of each with a sharp knife to allow zucchini to sit flat. Scoop out pulp, leaving 1/4-in. shells. , Place shells in an ungreased 3-qt. microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain and set aside. , Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef, onion and zucchini pulp over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat; stir in the marinara sauce, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup cheese., Spoon about 1/4 cup into each shell. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Microwave 3-4 minutes longer or until a thermometer inserted into filling reads 160° and zucchini are tender. If desired, broil zucchini 3 in. from the heat for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Serve with additional marinara sauce.

ZUCCHINI & GROUND BEEF-STUFFED PEPPERS ITALIANO

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Brown meat with onions in large skillet on medium heat; drain. Stir in 1/2 cup tomato sauce, zucchini, rice, oregano and basil.
• Cut tops off peppers; remove and discard seeds. Pour remaining tomato sauce and water into 13x9-inch baking dish; stir. Place peppers in baking dish; fill with meat mixture. Cover.
• Bake 35 to 40 min. or until peppers are tender. Top with cheese; bake, uncovered, 5 to 7 min. or until melted. Serve peppers topped with sauce from bottom of baking dish.