Stuffed Peppers

See...I told ya that batch of beautiful peppers would end up stuffed!  But mind you, these are NOT your mother's stuffed peppers (at least they are not MY mother's stuffed peppers!  Mom, you know I love you, but your stuffed peppers...hmmm, that's another matter :)

Anyway, I'm not sure why I even wrote this post because I can never recreate this stuffed pepper recipe.  It's one of those that I married two different recipes, left this out, added that, threw in some stuff of my own, etc, etc...you get the picture.  But I'll tell you basically what I did:

Preheat oven to 350F
This recipe made enough to stuff 18 peppers
3 # of ground meat - 1# each of lamb, pork and beef (I'm proud to say all were locally raised)
1/2 cup cooked, cooled bulgar wheat
1/2 bag of frozen, whole leaf spinach:  Thaw, rinse, thoroughly squeeze out all liquid and finely chop
1 small onion, grated, all the liquid squeezed out; and sauteed in a little bit of olive oil
3 small eggplant, peeled and grated (you could use zucchini or summer squash instead)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup beef stock
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh, flat leaf parsley
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
Generous pinch of salt (be careful with the salt; the cheese is pretty salty as it is)

Mix all the ingredients, except the meat, in a large bowl.  Add meat to bowl and using one or two forks, slowly but thoroughly incorporate all the seasonings in with the meat.  I don't like to overmix the meat as it becomes too compacted and tough.

Coat the bottom of one or two large baking dishes with good marinara sauce, homemade or store bought.  I used a mixture of four different types of homemade tomato sauces that I had in my freezer.  I pulled them all out, mix them together, heated briefly to meld all the flavors.  Boy was it good!  Anyway, I digress :)

Lightly stuff each pepper and place in baking dish.  Top each pepper with feta cheese.

Cover the baking dish tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil and bake for about an hour.  Remove foil and return peppers to oven for an additional 15-30 minutes, depending on how soft you like your peppers.  Remove from oven and serve.

These were delicious!  And they freeze beautifully.  My husband (and my sister) loved these peppers. 

I think it's good I somewhat documented this recipe because I have an abundance of peppers still on the plants in my garden (I picked about 16 yesterday) and I have a feeling I may get a request to "make those yummy stuffed peppers again!"

Buon appetito!