The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors met again at Bethel Church. For this meeting, Stella and Minoo were not able to make it and Marian was in charged of the kitchen. Perhaps, it was during the spring break, not many turned up for this kitchen. There were four seniors and four volunteers.

Marian prepared four recipes for this kitchen. The above is Stuffed Pepper with Beef and Brown Rice. Bell peppers are in season and they are cheap. Bell pepper is also known as sweet pepper or capsicum. The green one is more pungent, that’s why Marian used the red, yellow and orange ones which are sweeter. Due to the shape and hollow nature of the bell pepper, it is great to be used as a container for stuffing.

Bell pepper is low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. It is high in dietary fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Potassium, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, folate, Manganese, Magnesium and Pantothenic Acid. Bell pepper is ideal for maintaining optimum health and weight loss.

Ingredients

• 6 red or yellow or orange peppers
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 1/4 cups cooked brown rice
• 3 to 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce

• 1 can dice tomato
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Source: this recipe is adapted from Lazy Day Cooking

Serves 6

You may substitute brown rice with 2 cups of quinoa. The orange juice can be substituted with lemon juice.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375F. Cut the stem ends from the peppers, carefully remove seeds and membrane. Parboil in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Brown the ground beef in a skillet. Add onions and cooked until the onions are soft. Drain off the drippings. Place in a large bowl.

Combine with brown rice. Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.

We chopped up the stem ends and added to the rice mixture. Add olive oil and mix well.

Stuff the peppers with the beef and rice mixture.

Stand the stuffed peppers upright in a large oiled pan.

For the sauce, combine the diced tomatoes, olive oil and orange juice in a bowl.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Spoon the tomato sauce mixture over the stuffed peppers. Cover and bake in a preheated 375F oven until the peppers are tender and the tomato sauce is heat through. Serve warm with a side dish of salad.