Stuff it: Stuffed Peppers, Mushrooms, Zucchini, and More

Mmmm this was dinner last night. I'm not a fan of plain cottage cheese. I prefer the store bought already mixed with pineapple variety which is awesome whizzed up in smoothies. Plain cottage cheese is well... plain and the texture is not the most appealing thing. It also gives me flashbacks of hideous failed diet attempts of my pre weight loss surgery years. Being a Sicilian girl I tend to lean toward using ricotta in savory dishes but since I had some plain cottage cheese to use I figured what the heck. So glad I did. These stuffed peppers are AMAZING. Seriously like to die for good... and rice-less of course which is how I roll.

I served them on their own but they would be great with a green salad or steamed veggies. Leftovers would be great with eggs in the morning. I'm debating doing this with the leftovers in my fridge that are now calling to me after writing this up but I'm kind of in the mood for a protein shake too. So I will stick to my plan and the pepper leftovers will be lunch today.


Shelly's Cottage Stuffed Peppers

3 peppers of any color, stemmed, seeded, and cut in half lengthwise
1 Yellow Onion, chopped
4-5 Mushrooms, chopped
3/4 pound Ground Beef (or Turkey) (about 1/2 a package)
1/2 cup good Marinara Sauce (I use jarred Rao's Tomato Basil)
1 Tablespoon Fresh Basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasonings
1/2 teaspoon Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper
1 Mozzarella Cheesestick, diced
1 cup Cottage Cheese, drained (small curd, plain)
3 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese (divided use)
Olive Oil for sauteing

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the peppers in a lightly oiled Pyrex casserole dish, season with salt and bake for 20 minutes. Remove peppers, drain any water that has expelled from the peppers and set aside. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Saute onions and mushrooms till golden. Add ground meat and saute till no pink is seen. Add sauce, seasonings, salt & pepper. Mix till combined. Off heat add drained cottage cheese (I just put it in a mesh sieve or small holed colander for about 20 minutes to remove any excess whey), diced mozzarella and 2 Tablespoons of the Parmesan. Mix to combine. Use an ice cream scoop to spoon mixture into partially cooked pepper halves. Top with additional 1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes (until peppers are fork tender.)


Other Eggface Stuffed Things:

Shelly's Mini Cheese Stuffed Peppers
Shelly's Burrito Peppers
Shelly's Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Shelly's Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Shelly's Spinach & Cheese Chicken Rollatinis
Shelly's Ham & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Rollatinis
Shelly's Zucchini Roll-ups (aka Pasta-less Manicotti)
Shelly's Stuffed Pizza Bites
Shelly's Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
Shelly's Stuffed Zucchini (Zucchini Ripieni)