Cram it, Ugly

I started work early yesterday so I could take a long lunch to make something more substantial. I’ve been living off leftovers from Sunday all week and have been running low. I had several pounds of ground beef thawed and I bought a few bell peppers a week prior when I last left my house. With my new found rice cooking ability in the Instant Pot, there was only one thing on my mind to prepare with these items. Wait, I could have made tacos. Spoiler, that one thing on my mind was not tacos. I decided to make some stuffed peppers. The first step was to brown off the ground beef. It’s been awhile since I had actually ground beef, let alone medium ground beef. There was a stunning amount of grease for me to contend with. I asked myself, should I drain it off and add it to the rice? I ended up disposing of it once the beef was thoroughly browned. The rice was cooked perfectly again. I made one alteration to the previous run and added some fresh ground black pepper. Mostly because I was holding it from seasoning the meat just before I closed the lid on the IP. While those things happened I pulled out a whack of mixing bowls to feel proper cheffy. I chopped the “lids” off my peppers and gutted them carefully. The rice and beef were combined in a bowl with some medium salsa. I added bits at a time until I felt I had the correct ratio of these ingredients. After folding and mixing it up, I crammed this stuffing mixture into the peppers and put them in a baking dish, destined for a 400F pre-heated oven. I had the timer set for ten minutes but found that eight minutes was about right. The peppers were softened but not mushy. I like a bit of bite to it, and I use the walls as scoops. I plated a pair of peppers and persisted to patiently placate the public’s pleasure for pictures. Perfection!