Venison-Stuffed Peppers

We ate venison burgers for dinner last night. And since the venison was packaged in about a 45-pound container, we had a lot of leftovers. (Really it's only about 2 lbs, but it goes a long way in this house.)

I've wanted to make stuffed peppers for awhile now for no reason at all. I'd never had a stuffed pepper before and wasn't even really sure what I should stuff in them, but I wanted to make them. And when the husband agrees to eat something I've never even eaten before and, therefore, have no ground to stand on when trying to assure him dinner will taste good, I have to take advantage of the situation.

Since the closest I'd ever come to a stuffed pepper was the deli case at our local market, I wasn't really sure how to go about cooking them. I wasn't even sure what I was going to stuff them with, besides the venison. 

But I wasn't about to tell the husband that.




I debated as to whether to cut the tops off the peppers or to cut them lengthwise, leaving the husband and I with two pieces of pepper each. The husband said to go for the tops, so that's what I did. I diced the tops into small pieces and thew them into a large (lightly sprayed) fry pan along with some chopped onion. After a few minutes I added in the venison, 1/2 tablespoon chili powder and let it all cook until the venison browned.

While the venison/pepper/onion mixture cooked I turned the oven on to 350 degrees and put on a pot of water. Once the water boiled, I thew in the peppers and cooked them for five minutes. 

Once the meat and peppers were cooked, it was time to get stuffing. I stuffed each of the peppers with meat and 2 tablespoons salsa. Then it was time for them to go into the oven.

The peppers baked, covered, at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Then I took them out and topped the husband's with some Mexican cheese and mine with 2 tablespoons fat-free cottage cheese. About five more minutes in the oven, and the peppers were ready for dinner.

Everything came out quite well, I must admit. But neither of us really knew how to eat them.

Luckily forks and knives got the job done, and the husband has agreed to eat these again. I think next time, though, I'll add a few more veggies to the stuffing. And perhaps I'll even look up a recipe - or at least look a bit closer at the deli case next time we're at the market.