Creole Stuffed Peppers Recipe

A couple of weeks ago we were working on some family projects and
needed a real quick and easy-to-fix dinner. My wife, Sue, searched
the cupboards and found a package of Zatarain's® New Orleans Style
Jambalaya Mix. She also had some fresh ground meat in the fridge,
so she used that as the meat for the jambalaya. When I tasted it,
the first thing I thought of is how great something like that would
taste as the stuffing for stuffed green bell peppers.

Now those of you who have received my recipes for any length of
time know that I love to cook from scratch. I even mix my own spice
mixes and meat rubs, instead of buying the pre-mixed ones (I save a
lot of money doing that, too!). However, there is another side of
me that likes to put together something once in awhile that is
quick and easy. Something like a "Rachael Ray" type meal--something
that has layers and layers of flavor, but does not require hours
and hours of prep time. On Friday I went with my stuffed pepper
idea, developing it into what I would have to say is one of the
best recipes I've ever come up with! Here it is:

Ingredients:

8 to 10 green bell peppers

2 tbsp. canola oil

1 lb. ground sausage (mild Italian is good)

1 lb. ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 (8 oz.) package Zatarain's® New Orleans Style Jambalaya Mix

1 cup ketchup

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

2 tsp. Louisiana hot pepper sauce

1/4 tsp. celery salt

Instructions:

Cut the tops off the green peppers and remove seeds and membranes
from peppers. Chop from the edges of the tops of the peppers until
you have 1 cup of chopped pepper. In a large saucepan or skillet,
heat the canola oil. Add the sausage and ground beef and break up
thoroughly while browning (and mix together well). When the meat is
fairly well browned, add the chopped pepper, onion and celery. Keep
stirring over medium heat until veggies start to become tender. Add
2.5 cups of water and the Zatarain's® jambalaya mix. Keep stirring.
Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes.
Remove from heat and let stand. Refrigerate this mixture a few
hours before stuffing peppers. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Set
the peppers in large casserole and/or a deep baking dish (or
dishes). With a spoon, fill each pepper with the jambalaya mixture.
Pack down the mixture pretty well and fill so that mixture is level
with the top edge of each pepper. (Depending on the size of the
bell peppers, the mixture should fill 8 to 10 peppers.) In a 2-cup
measuring cup or a bowl, thoroughly mix the ketchup, the tomato
sauce, the pepper sauce and the celery salt. Scoop this mixture
equally over the top of the mixture in the peppers. Cover (aluminum
foil makes a fine cover) and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. These
peppers taste great served with a side salad and French rolls!

Copyright © 2007 Lee Griffith. All rights reserved.

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