Mini sweet peppers are one of my favorite vegetables. They can be used in almost any dish to add both flavor and color! They are available all year round and can easily be found in the produce section of your local grocery store. Although I mainly use them in stir fry dishes, I decided to experiment and stuff these delicious tiny peppers. To my surprise, I created a wonderful Asian flavored filling which resulted in an excellent appetizer for any party or cocktail hour. Everyone loved them so much I just had to share the recipe. Enjoy!

20 mini sweet peppers (These peppers come in several sizes so when buying them, try to get the medium size. Remember, you are going to stuff them cut sideways, so you don’t want them to be too small.)
1½ tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp of salt
½ lb ground beef
4 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp ginger
1½ tsp chopped garlic
½ cup water
2 tsp cornstarch
1 (8.8oz) bag of Uncle Ben’s 90 second microwavable white rice--you will only use ½ of the bag for this recipe (4.4 oz)

1. Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.


2. Rinse all the peppers in cold water. Then cut off the tops, slice them in half long ways, and pull out all of the seeds.


3. Toss them in a mixing bowl with one tablespoon of olive oil, just to give them a nice light coat. Then sprinkle them with salt.


4. Place them on a non stick baking sheet skin side up and bake for about 10 minutes.


5. When you take them out, the edges of each pepper may be brown to black. This is ok, as long as the entire outside skin is not burned.


6. Place the peppers on a plate until they are cool.


7. The filling is very simple, just mix together the ground beef, 1 tablespoon of soy and ¼ tsp of the ground ginger in a mixing bowl.


8. In a non stick pan mix together the remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil with the chopped garlic. Cook on high until just browned.


9. Once the garlic is browned, add the meat and cook until brown, about 4 minutes. Then remove the mixture from the heat.


10. Microwave the rice and pour only ½ of the bag into the ground beef. You can substitute by using regular plain cooked white rice if you don’t have the microwavable type. I just love the microwavable bags simply because they cut down on the cooking time.


11. Next add the remaining ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, and ½ cup of water. Cook on high until boiling.


12. In a separate cup mix together the cornstarch with a little water just to dissolve. Once the beef boils, add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thick. Then remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool.


13. When both the peppers and the beef mixture are cool enough to handle, fill each pepper and place it on a serving tray. Makes about 40.