Fall Stuffed Peppers

I am not exactly sure why I have never stuffed peppers before but for some reason they just seemed so large and intimidating to me. I love eating, but a bell pepper is HUGE so the idea of eating one stuffed full to the brim always seemed like a challenge to me. Lucky for me, a friend recently had one last bumper crop of peppers remaining in his fall garden so he unloaded a bunch off on us. These tiny peppers were not much bigger than my fist so they seemed a lot more manageable to my stuffing abilities.

After eating these delicious peppers I am wondering what took me so long to get on the stuffing bandwagon. They were awesome. Full of flavor and totally the perfect hearty for a fall or winter feast.  I know the traditional pepper is stuffed with a red sauce but I went a sweeter route stuffing mine with chicken apple sausage, veggies and a sauce made from a mix of acorn squash and apples.

1 lb chicken apple sausage, casing removed

1 C cooked brown rice

1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

1 carrot, chopped fine

½ onion, chopped fine

3 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 inch piece of ginger, chopped fine

1 apple, cored chunked and baked

1 acorn squash, baked

1 c of greens (I used chopped spinach)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 tbs butter

EVOO

S&P

Shredded cheese

Blend the baked apple and acorn squash together with a spoon adding cinnamon, nutmeg, S&P and set aside. Cook celery, carrot, onion, ginger and garlic in EVOO over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften. Add greens and stir until completely cooked (about 3-4 minutes), add rice and Parmesan stirring to incorporate all the ingredients. Slowly add spoonful’s of the squash mixture into the pan until you have reached a good ratio. I ended up using a little more than ½ of my squash mixture to bind the ingredients together.

I hallowed out the peppers and quickly steamed them in about a ½ inch of water in a covered pot. Once they were cool enough to handle I stuffed each with the rice and veggie mixture and then topped each pepper with some shredded mozzarella cheese. I baked them in the oven for 20 minutes until the centers were warm and the cheese was melted.