By Jack's garden operation grows more ambitious every year. The greenhouse, the market sales, the Farm Fund jar that now holds over three hundred dollars. He's 13 and he farms the way some kids play video games — obsessively, joyfully, with the deep understanding that this is not a hobby but a vocation wearing a hobby's clothes.
Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made Irish soda bread earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.
The garden is waking up. The garlic that overwintered is pushing green shoots through the soil, the annual proof that buried things come back. Jack's seedlings are hardening off in the greenhouse. The Marlene cherry tomato — generation 6 now — ready for transplanting. Every spring the planting is the memorial. Every spring the name goes back in the ground.
With the garlic shooting green and Jack’s seedlings lined up in the greenhouse like little soldiers, I wanted dinner to feel like the garden — something grown, something layered, something that rewarded patience. Stuffed peppers have that same quiet logic: you fill them, you tend them, and they come out of the oven transformed. It felt right for a week when buried things were visibly coming back.
Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 large bell peppers (any color), tops cut off and seeds removed
- 1 cup long-grain brown rice, uncooked
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 lb lean ground turkey or beef
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
- Cook the rice. Combine brown rice and broth in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 35–40 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Par-cook the peppers. Place the hollowed peppers cut-side down in the baking dish with 1/4 cup water. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and flip peppers cut-side up; discard water.
- Brown the meat. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook 3 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add ground meat and cook, breaking it apart, until no longer pink, about 6–8 minutes. Drain excess fat.
- Build the filling. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, frozen peas, Italian seasoning, and paprika. Simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in the cooked brown rice until evenly combined.
- Fill and bake. Spoon the filling generously into each pepper. Top each with shredded cheese. Cover the dish with foil and bake 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5–8 minutes until cheese is melted and lightly golden.
- Rest and serve. Let peppers rest 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 420 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 48g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 540mg