Crock Pot Gourmet: Stuffed Bell Peppers

When I want to impress people with my gourmet cooking abilities, I pull out something like

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is a dish that looks super-fancy, but it's actually really quick and easy to pull together.

My favorite kind of recipe!

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

You will need:

6 large bell peppers (green peppers are usually cheapest, but red, yellow and orange are delicious too)

2 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey or chicken, if you prefer)

1 large onion

1 lb. shredded carrots

2 Tbsp. minced garlic

2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

1 c. rolled oats (if you need the recipe to be gluten-free, make sure you have gluten-free oats!)

1 egg

grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Place ground meat into your mixer bowl.

 Add chopped onion, minced garlic, shredded carrots and Italian seasoning.

Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.

Slice tops off peppers and remove seeds.

You can set the pepper tops aside to use as lids for a prettier presentation,

 or you can chop up the pepper tops and mix the diced pepper into the ground meat mixture.

Add oats and egg, and mix on low speed to combine.

Divide mixture evenly between peppers, packing the meat mixture tightly into the hollow pepper shells. Carefully place the peppers into an ungreased 7-quart Crock Pot. (I had a little bit of the mixture left over, so I formed it into a large meatball to cook alongside the peppers.) - I often sprinkle the stuffed peppers with a bit of Parmesan cheese at this point, but that's completely optional.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours, until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Serve with your favorite side dish. Pictured here: Stuffed Peppers and Green Bean Casserole.

*Note: For the sake of being pretty, I've pictured a full pepper on the plate, but half of a stuffed pepper is usually plenty for one serving.