Since we grow all these garden-fresh vegetables that you too can enjoy by joining our CSA, we don’t buy vegetables from the grocery store, but instead eat fresh or preserved foods from the farm. One great way to preserve the bountiful harvest from your Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms Community Supported Agriculture share is by freezing it. We froze some of our bountiful peppers from last summer and even in February we can enjoy the fresh-from-the -garden flavors of our sweet peppers. Here’s my favorite way to prepare stuffed peppers! This is a gluten- free meal too!
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients:
Peppers for stuffing
Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound ( or less) ground sausage or other ground meat
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained or 2 cups of peeled, chopped fresh tomatoes
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t dried oregano (or 1 to 2 T fresh), or fresh basil
1/2 to 1 t dried rosemary (optional)
Salt and Pepper
2 cups cooked (brown) rice
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top
Optional additional mix-ins: corn, black beans, ground cumin and chopped cilantro makes a Mexican variety
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Here are the peppers after taking them out of the freezer. Peppers that have been frozen don’t need to be boiled because freezing and thawing tenderizes the peppers. I placed the frozen peppers in a baking dish and placed them in my 350 F oven for about 10 minutes to thaw. I poured out the accumulated water from the bottom of each pepper after thawing and then sprinkled with salt and pepper.
Note: If you are using fresh peppers you will need to cut the peppers in half vertically (alternatively, you can cut an opening in the top to pull out the stem and seeds and leave the pepper in one piece), scoop out the seeds and blanch in boiling water for about 3 minutes to tenderize the peppers. Drain the peppers well and sprinkle salt and pepper in the inside cavity.
For the filling, I sautéed 1 chopped onion in a little olive oil and cooked until tender, then added the chopped garlic.
Then, I added the ground sausage, breaking it into pieces as you cook it. I drained the fat from the pan (very important!), and then returned the meat mixture to the pan. I added the can of diced tomatoes, worcestershire sauce, herbs and cooked for a couple minutes to evaporate some of the moisture.
I then added the cooked rice and cheese, mixed to combine and seasoned with salt and pepper. This is when you can add in other vegetables (such as corn, black beans, cilantro) to the mix. 
Mixed together it looks like this. During the summer months I love to add lots of chopped fresh herbs for glorious color and flavor. 
Fill the pepper shells with the rice/ meat filling and bake at 350F for about 15 to 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. If you have extra filling you can put it in a small baking dish and bake alongside the stuffed peppers. 
I sprinkled some additional shredded cheese for the last couple minutes of baking. 
I hope you enjoy!
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