Every year, about this time, I always seem to have a few small Banana peppers and maybe one or two ripe and misshapen bell peppers left on the vine. This usually occurs at a time when my fridge is full of peppers that I harvested earlier on. So, what do with the extras? Hey! How about I stuff them!

(OK, I know what you’re thinking. Not another stuffed pepper recipe). Yes, why not. This time I will be working with a blend of hamburger, sliced olives, taco mix, shredded cheese with maybe a little hot sauce to heat things up. And, as usual, I will make this meal in my trusty slow cooker. The video is available on Youtube.

Ingredients:

6-8 bell and banana peppers, split length wise

½ lb ground beef

1 russet potato, peeled

1 small white onion, minced

1 pkg Taco mix

½ cup brown rice

4 stuffed olives, sliced thin

Taco sauce as needed

¼ tsp Tabasco sauce

2 tblsp shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Prepare taco meat using the mix according to package directions. Prepare the rice according to package directions.

In a bowl, combine the taco meat, minced onion, rice, olives, cheese and egg. Mix well.

Take the Banana peppers and slice length wise. Remove any seeds. Remove the top of the bell peppers and also remove the seeds. Rinse and place on a counter top.

Add the stuffing mix to the hollow cavities of the peppers. Lay two strips of folded aluminum foil in a cross pattern into the bottom of the slow cooker. (You can use these as a support later on to remove the peppers from the cooker).

Peel and cut the potato in to medium chunks. Add the peppers to the bottom of the crock pot. Use chunks of potato to support the peppers. Drizzle taco sauce over the peppers and potatoes. Don’t go too heavy with this. Just a few sloupes, (a unit of measure that is not in any dictionary, but one which I’m sure most of you will know).

Cover and cook on low for three to four hours. (The thin walls of the peppers will not require long cooking periods).

Serves two to four.