Stuffed Peppers for the Crock Pot

Friday's seem to always be busy in our house. I don't have much time to cook because my daughter has her viola lesson at 5:30. Who scheduled it like that anyway??? Oh right that was me...ooopps! So crock pot meals are the way to go on Friday. That way we can head home and dinner is ready. We love stuffed peppers. Well everyone loves the filling. The kids are not keen on the actual pepper so I always make extra filling for them. They can scoop it onto bread with butter or just eat it plain depending on their mood for the day :)

I found a wonderful recipe for Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers over at Mark's Daily Apple that looked so yummy and it doesn't use any rice!  Not that rice is horrible, but with all the pasta this week I really didn't want to use rice.  I made a few slight changes because we like ours saucy. To me the sauce is everything!  I love sauce...but anyway on with the good stuff!

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers adapted from Mark's Daily Apple
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork (you can use all beef, all pork, turkey, or whatever else you like just use 2 lbs)
4 green peppers
3 medium carrots, shredded
1 large onion, grated
1/2 head cauliflower, grated
1 TBS minced garlic
1 TBS dried parsley
1 TBS dried oregano
6 oz tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

• Cut the tops off the green pepper and scoop out the seeds (I discard the tops)
• Combine everything else in a large bowl and scoop filling into the peppers
• Place filled peppers in the crock pot and spoon remaining filling along sides of peppers 
• Set aside and prepare sauce

8 oz tomato sauce

1/4 cup water

1 TBS brown sugar

1 TBS vinegar

1 tsp prepared mustard

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp parsley

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

• In a small bowl combine all ingredients until well blended
• Pour over top peppers and meat mixture
• Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours

Obviously you could stuff 8 peppers instead of just 4 and have not extra meatballs, but for my family it just makes sense to only stuff half.  Or you could half the meat mixture recipe.  Whichever works best for you :)

The nutritional value is per serving.  This recipe yields 8 servings.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 296 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 254 Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 6.0g 9%

Saturated Fat 2.1g 11%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 92mg 31%

Sodium 500mg 21%

Total Carbohydrates 15.4g 5%

Dietary Fiber 4.1g 16%

Sugars 8.8g

Protein 34.8g

Vitamin A 91% • Vitamin C 111% Calcium 6% • Iron 24%

Nutrition Grade A

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• High in niacin
• High in phosphorus
• High in potassium
• Very high in selenium
• High in thiamin
• Very high in vitamin A
• High in vitamin B6
• High in vitamin B12
• Very high in vitamin C
• High in zinc

Bad points

• High in cholesterol