Stuffed Peppers in the Dutch Oven

Stuffed peppers are a great summer dish you can use to dress up left overs.

First, get all your left overs together. Left over rice, left over ground beef, bits and bobs from the fridge that are too little or too boring to eat by themselves. This is a great way to use fresh veggies from the garden as well, particularly if you only have a few -- grab a handful of cherry tomatoes, a few greens, squash, etc. Mix them all together in a bowl.

Cut the tops off some sweet bell peppers. My husband has some dietary restrictions, so I color-code our peppers: yellow and orange are ok, red means danger, haha. So I get the red ones with anything he can't eat inside! De-seed your peppers and rinse them, then mash your left-overs into the cavity of the pepper.

Place your peppers in your dutch oven. I love this enamel-ware dutch oven I got years ago. I love enamel-ware cast iron, and this is such a useful piece. Pour 2-4 cups of beef or chicken (or vegetable) broth into the bottom of the dutch oven, it will provide steam and flavor while cooking the peppers. Put your lid on and place in the oven at 350 for an hour, or place in your campfire and monitor it while cooking -- about an hour to an hour and a half.

Prefer to use your slow cooker? This recipe adapts very well to the crock pot -- place your peppers inside, pour broth into the bottom, and let it cook on low 6 hours.

You can top your peppers with cheese after they have cooked soft. Delicious, fancy, easy way to disguise left-overs and those ungainly single veggies from the garden!