Stuffed Pepper Casserole

A spin on the traditional Stuffed Peppers.  My kids have been begging me to make Stuffed Peppers for them all week.  I only had 2 green peppers in the house so I decided to tweak my recipe a bit and make this into a casserole!  It was a huge hit, no leftovers anywhere to be found.

Ingredients:

2 peppers (any color) chopped
1/2 lb  cooked brown rice
1 lb ground beef
1/2 chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of ground ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1-6 oz can of tomato paste
1/2 can (6-8 oz) jellied cranberry sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese


Preparation:

In a large skillet brown ground beef until cooked through.  Drain oil and set meat aside.  Wipe out the skillet.  Heat oil in skillet and add onion, garlic, ginger sauté for one minute.  Add beef back in and combine with onion mixture.  Add tomato paste, water soy sauce and cranberry sauce and stir and cook for about 10 minutes until cranberry sauce is melted and evenly combined.  (If mixture is too thick, add a little more water).

Now to assemble the casserole:

Grease a 9x9 or similar size baking dish about 9x9 with non stick cooking spray.  Add raw chopped pepper at the bottom of the dish.

Next layer your brown rice.  I used the frozen brown rice from Trader Joes.  This makes it so easy.  Just open the frozen rice and dump in!

Now you can add your meat/sauce mixture on top of the rice.

Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes.

Remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle on parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.  Place back in the oven uncovered for 10-15 min until cheese is melted and browned.  (I took mine a little too far and my cheese is too dark, next time I won't get distracted LOL)