Weeknight dinner that uses up a lot of random ingredients and can be made vegetarian or heavy on the meat, it’s your decision for a Philly-Style Stuffed Pepper kind of night!

In my recent quest to eat less carbs, I was inspired by a photo found on Pinterest of a pepper being used as a vessel for meat. It was quite brilliant in this way, as I’ve never been a huge fan of stuffed peppers with rice, which is rather common. So off I went to find a suitable way for me to pull this together and create something yummy both for myself, but also for my vegetarian friends!

The basis is simple, throw together your ingredients you’d like to have in a hot melted cheesy ‘sandwich’. I opted for leftover steak which I cubed, cooked up some mushrooms, onions and garlic to add to the steak. For my vegetarian friends, I’d recommend Portobello mushrooms. For my vegan friends, I’d have you consider a cashew cheese instead of a milk based product. For those who want to kick this up another notch, try varying your cheeses- Provolone, Mozzarella, American or Cheddar. Then you can also try additions like sun dried tomatoes, jalapeños or ingredients found in a stir fry. And lastly, for those individuals who can’t produce cooked beef in the recipe below due to hectic schedules, try using roast beef slices or shaved beef found in the freezer section of most supermarkets. You could even go crazy and stuff mini bell-peppers for a great new appetizer to serve at an upcoming party. The idea is to create a dish that you and your family can enjoy that suits all your tastes and more importantly your time constraints.

To hear me talk about this recipe and other tips and tricks, tune in monthly to Stable Scoop Radio Show. Happy eating!

Philly-Style Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
2 Green Bell Peppers, halved and seeds removed
1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
2 cloves of Garlic, minced
1 small Onion, chopped
5 mini Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 cup of cubed Steak, cooked*
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire Sauce
2 tablespoons of Wegmans Finishing Sauce or Steak Sauce(optional)
Dash of Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
Mozzarella Cheese (Eight slices cut to your liking or 2 cups of shredded)
Salt and Pepper

Ingredients needed for a fast and easy dinner of Philly-Style Stuffed Peppers.

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees.

In a small skillet on medium-high heat, add your Olive Oil. Once shimmering, add your Garlic, Onion and Mushrooms. Cook for five minutes stirring halfway through. Remove from heat and season with Salt and Pepper.

In a medium sized bowl combine Worcester Sauce, Finishing Sauce/Steak Sauce and Red Pepper Flakes. Add in Steak, and Mushroom mixture, coat evenly.

Steak mixture to go into the Peppers. Includes cooked Steak, Onions, Garlic and Mushrooms.

On a baking sheet, lay out your Peppers, season with Salt and Pepper. Add in a slice of cheese and press into Pepper cavity. Spoon equal amounts of Steak mixture into Peppers, and season again with Salt and Pepper. Bake for fifteen minutes. Remove from oven and add additional cheese. Bake for an additional fifteen minutes, followed by one-two minutes under the broiler. Serve warm.

*If creating a vegetarian version of this dish, use one large Portobello mushroom and cook with Onions.

Peppers ready to go into the oven for their first round of baking.

Half cooked Peppers being provided with their additional cheesy yumminess.

Hot out of the oven and broiled to perfection.

The plated Pepper ready for consumption!