Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers

Like a Sandals vacation, this meal is all inclusive.  Two veggies, a starch, and yer meat.  All in a couple hours.  It's fantastic.  Plus, it's delicious!  This was the first time I'd ever made or eaten stuffed peppers.  It's not as if they're exotic or made with expensive, hard-to-find ingredients...it's just not something that was ever on the menu at our trailer growing up.

But times have changed, and times are strange (as my good friend Ozzy sings) and I am making stuffed peppers.  Here we go:

1 crockpot
4 green peppers (or try different colored peppers if you want.  Be jazzy)
1/2 lb ground meat (If you chose to use 1 lb of meat (like I did), you should buy another pepper and see if you can squeeze it into your crockpot.  One pound of meat would make enough for 5 peppers.  I didn't have 5 peppers.  Some filling was sacrificed.  I used hamburger.  The original recipe called for ground pork.  You could try ground chicken, turkey, moose...really, whatever ground meat you could get your hands on.)
1 c. instant white rice (uncooked)
1 c. frozen peas (uncooked)
3/4 c. bbq sauce, divided (I used Weber Kick'n Spicy...and it was!)
4 oz Velveeta, cubed (ok, so the Hannaford at the Mall only sells their brand of Velveeta in 32 oz logs...but it made more financial sense to buy their 32 oz log than Velveeta's little 12 oz log...so now I have 28 oz of Velveeta at my house.  Not that I'm complaining...)
1/2 c. water

Combine 1/4 c. bbq sauce and the water in the bottom of the crockpot.  Cut the tops off your peppers and take out all the seeds and the membrane (is that what it's called?  That's what I'm calling it.)  In a medium bowl, combine your meat, rice, peas, and 1/2 c. bbq sauce.  Stuff the peppers evenly with the meat mixture, and stand them up in the crockpot.  Put one cube of Velveeta on each pepper.  Cook on low 7 hours or high 2 1/2-3 hours (I went the quick route.) 

You guys!  These were so good.  Andrew said that this was up there as one of his favorites.  I asked him what his other favorites were, and he said he couldn't remember.  I'm so good at taking compliments.

The cheese disappears, which is good if you have a Velveetaphobe for a husband, as I do...

Try these peppers!  I have never been so excited about eating a non-corn vegetable in my life!

Brussel Sprouts That Don't Taste Like A Foot

Andrew and I are back on the WW wagon following the wedding.  I'm pretty sure my shirt just got caught in the wagon wheel and I'm being dragged along.  Anyhow, I'm trying my best to make us healthier options for shared food times.  What he does when I can't see him (read:  hot doughnuts at LaBree's) and what I do when he can't see me (read:  buy enough chocolate at Mardens to have an Intervention staged on my behalf) is up to personal willpower (which they don't sell at Mardens.)
Our punishment for hot doughnuts and Cadbury bars was roasted brussel sprouts.   That's the only way to eat them.  If you are eating them boiled, please, please stop.  I beg you.  That's no way to live.  I also brought one of our favorite grill recipes indoors.  With that, here was tonight's meal:

 

I know, it looks like a bad 70's cookbook picture, but it was delicious!

Steak Tips and Roasted Veggies
1 lb sirloin steak strips
1 pkg McCormick Peppercorn and Garlic marinade
1 onion (for the steak tips)
4 carrots
1 lb brussel sprouts
3 baseball sized potatoes
1 green pepper

Marinate the strips (which I cut into tip-sized bites, but you do how you like) according to package directions.  Mine sat for about 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 375.  Cut the veggies you choose to use (try brussel sprouts!) down into pieces about the same size.  Put into a single layer on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Add any spices and toss the veggies to coat (I only used salt and pepper because the marinade is so powerful.)  Cook for 40-60 minutes (I went 60.)
When you're ready to cook the tips, get a cast-iron skillet (or another skillet if you don't have a cast-iron) and drizzle with a little olive oil when hot.  Cut the onion into slices, then in half, and start them in the skillet.  Let them go for a few minutes, then add the steak tips.  Cook to your desired doneness (we are medium-well folks here) and serve with the roasted veggies.
Easy meal.  Easy way to eat veggies that normally would never pass my lips.  Zucchini, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower...roasted veggie possibilities are endless!!