Couscous and Beef Stuffed Peppers

Here's the recipe for Stuffed Peppers I promised. I love this recipe for a bunch of reasons: it's easy, the hubby loves it, it's got all the food groups wrapped up in 1 course, it freezes really well in individual servings, and will go from freezer to oven. The only real problem I see with it is that it does mix dairy and beef which isn't kosher. (We now know that the sanitation practices and dietary restrictions God imposed on the Jews in the Old Testament were incredibly medically advanced for the time period, therefore the Jews avoided a lot of illnesses during that time, which subsequently led to them being hated by many Gentiles throughout history. This law, derived from Deuteronomy 14:21, may have been because we now know that the iron present in red meat bonds to the calcium in milk, thus depriving your body of both of these important nutrients. That said, I've decided that on rare occasions such as this one, a little bit of cheese atop my family's meat is fine.)

You will want to allow yourself 30-45 minutes to prepare this, but you can start early in the day and do it little by little. I love making dinner this way; it makes it seem like much less of a chore and leaves me with less to do when the kids are fussy and ready to eat!

Recipe:

~ 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

~ 1 medium onion, chopped

~ 2 garlic cloves, minced

~ sea salt and fresh ground pepper

~ 12 ounces ground beef

~ 2 cups (about) diced tomatoes or 1 - 14.5 can of tomatoes

~ 3/4 cup couscous (uncooked) or cooked brown rice

~ 4 bell peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds and ribs removed

~ 1/2 cup raisins or mango cubes (optional)

~ 1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; cook until softened, about 3 minutes.

Add beef to skillet. Cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1 cup water and optional raisins or mangoes; cook until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in couscous (or rice).

Fill pepper halves with couscous mixture.* Pour 1/2 cup water into a large baking dish; arrange stuffed peppers in a dish. Cover with foil, and bake until peppers are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle cheese over the tops. Return to oven; bake, uncovered, until cheese has melted and peppers are very tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

* If you've prepared extra for the freezer, this is where you'll want to stop, wrap individually, and freeze. (Freeze the cheese separately.) Because parchment paper is not conducive to wrapping these tight, I recommend flash-freezing, then wrapping in plastic wrap, and freezing in a Ziploc bag. Label with baking instructions if you'd like. Make sure to remove plastic at least from around the meat before defrosting.

Here are my peppers right before I flash-froze them: