Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers

I learned a new trick this summer. It's been a real game-changer; ready for it? The slow cooker isn't just for winter. The slow cooker should be your year-round bestie. We live on the third floor and it gets hot AF up here; the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven. So having a slow cooker that sits on my counter all day, makes the house smell amazing and allows happy hour every day b/c I don't need to do anything for dinner besides remember to shut it off is awesome.

Full disclosure: I always forget to switch the setting to "keep warm" or shut it off in time for the meal to cool down to a reasonable temperature to eat. Our meals are insanely hot and Brent waits for it to cool while I shovel it in, scalded mouth be damned. 

Am I the only one who associates slow cookers with hearty, winter meals? Maybe everyone know this secret and has been slow cooking all quarantine while I slave away over another frozen pizza. I've seen the light and I'm on a real slow cooking kick. Brent has promised to stage a walk-out if he was to wash the crock-pot one. more. time.

In theory, I loved stuffed peppers. Sure, a meat and rice mixture stuffed into hollowed out peppers sounds like a blast. Even though the meat and rice ratio is much higher than the pepper, I always feel good, like I'm eating only veggies for dinner and can go crazy on dessert. 

In reality, they're a total pain. I better get the rice cooking now before I forget about it. Actually, let me brown the meat; wait, I want to saute the onions and the garlic at the same time; wait, I didn't cut them up yet. Better cut and seed the peppers while I'm at it. Okay, NOW I'll get the rice going. Finally the mixture is assembled, the peppers are stuffed, I did it! Now I just have to bake them for 45 minutes. DAMN IT I FORGOT TO PREHEAT THE OVEN.

Slow cooker stuffed peppers, though? These aren't the diva their oven counterpart is. You can brown the meat and saute the onion and garlic for more developed flavors, if you're one of those over-achievers. Or you can just throw all the ingredients in a bowl. You do still have to cut and seed the peppers, but that's the only caveat. 

The first time I made these, I honestly didn't trust the rice and meat were going to be cooked. The recipe below makes more filling than will fit in the peppers (b/c it's the best part, duh) and I really stuffed the peppers in tight before putting the extra at the bottom of the crock-pot. I was sure the rice wouldn't cook or the meat would be raw. I was pretty excited when I lifted the lid to poke around (which I did every 20 minutes) and saw things were getting cooked. The other pain in the ass about the traditional way is that I always cut the oven time short b/c I'm hungry damnit, and don't have the patience to bake them for 40+ minutes so the peppers are always too crunchy for my liking. In the slow cooker, they got nice and toasty. The rice was a little too firm for our liking, but I think that's because I cooked on low for 4 hours and opened the lid every 20 minutes. Next time I'll just cook them longer. 

Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

4 bell peppers

1 pound ground turkey/beef

1/2 cup rice

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper 

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend 

2 cups sauce (pasta,pizza, whatever your red sauce staple is)

1/2 cup water/stock

1 cup shredded cheese (I used whatever we had kicking around, probably some 4 cheese nacho blend)

Instructions:

-Cut off pepper tops* and remove seeds; place peppers inside your slow cooker 

-Combine ground meat, rice, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and seasoning in large bowl and mix together

-Stuff peppers with meat mixture (I found it much easier to do when they're in the slow cooker so any excess falls in the slow cooker and not on your counter)

-Scoop any extra mixture that won't fit in the peppers around the bottom of the slow cooker

-Pour sauce over peppers, pour water over sauce 

-Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5

-15 minutes before you're going to eat, pour shredded cheese over tops of peppers until

melted; this only takes a few minutes. Use the rest of that 15 minutes to turn off the slow cooker and let them cool so you aren't eating molten magma.

*I just saw an Instagram post where they cut the peppers lengthwise and they look so much better, I'm definitely trying that next time