Harvest Stuffed Peppers

This recipe is a bit different then your traditional stuffed pepper.  It is one of those recipes that ends up catching all the random veggies in the kitchen that need using. It’s great with mushrooms, garlic, eggplant, celery, zucchini, extra peppers, even a tomato added at the end. It would also be great topped with grated cheese.

Harvest Stuffed Peppers

2 bell peppers that can stand on their ends
2 medium sized potatoes
1/2 white or yellow onion
1 or 2 peeled carrots
1 small or medium sized squash
1/2 to 3/4 cup protein of choice: left over diced ham is in the picture, but eggplant, eggs, ground beef or sausage works great too.
Fresh torn basil – to taste
Salt & pepper
2 TBS olive oil

Cut the tops off of the peppers, remove seeds and ribs and set peppers aside. Chop all other ingredients into a 1/4-inch dice. In a 12-inch skillet with a lid heat olive oil; add potatoes, onions and carrots. Season well with salt and pepper. Put on lid and let cook over medium, stirring to keep from sticking to bottom of the pan, until onions are soft and the potatoes and carrots are on their way to being cooked through.
Add squash (sometimes I add the pepper tops too). Let cook uncovered until potatoes are almost tender, stirring as needed to keep from sticking.
Add cooked meat (or raw eggplant), and basil. Mix well, taste and adjust for seasoning. Scoop mixture (which I call hash) into the peppers. Place peppers in a rimmed pan and bake at 375 until heated through and potatoes are done. They could also be finished on the grill instead of the oven.

This recipe makes enough hash to stuff four peppers (serve four people), but I only stuff two for Rick and I. The remaining hash gets divided into two portions – one for Henry, and one for Rick’s lunch the next day.  If you want to make it for four, just add two more bell peppers!