This was a great choice and something that I would have probably not chosen to make myself. These peppers are stuffed with lean ground beef, onions, zucchini, spinach, and bulgur and then sprinkled with salty feta cheese.
I know many of my fellow bloggers substituted out the beef for a leaner white meat, which I would normally have done as well. For some reason, though, I was in the mood for some ground beef, so I went with it.
After reading some of the reviews of this recipe on the Network website, I made sure to kick up the level of seasoning for the filling. I doubled the oregano, but still felt it could have used more. I also added the zest of a whole lemon (holla lemon week) and additional salt. Instead of sprinkling the feta on top, I mixed it in with the rest of the filling.
I used a mixture of stewed and diced tomatoes to pour over the peppers, but next time I would used crushed tomatoes. I like my peppers to have more of a sauce with them. I think this is because his dad makes THE BEST stuffed peppers I have ever had, and his always has a delicious tomato sauce.
These were really tasty, but they definitely still needed some additional flavor. I am actually surprised that she kept the flavor so subtle, when these could easily have been flavor country with little additional calories or fat added. I am looking forward to making these again and playing around with the filling. I am interested to see what everyone else did to get some ideas.
My only issue with this was that it took so long to bake (I baked mine for the full 75 minutes per the recipe in the book), so it is not really practical for me as a weeknight dinner. I think next time I may try partially or fully cooking them the night before and see how they fare that way. The good news is that I had tons of leftovers which I froze for next week when I have to work late.