Southwestern Stuffed Peppers with Black Beans and Green Chiles

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F. Choose a baking dish that’s barely big enough to fit six peppers standing up and spray with non-stick spray or olive oil. In large frying pan, brown ground beef well and drain off fat if needed. Push ground beef to the side, add a bit of olive oil if pan seems dry and saute onion 3-4 minutes, until barely softened. While the beef cooks, trim off the bottom of each pepper just enough to make a flat end to stand the pepper up. Cut off the stem end of peppers and cut out the seeds. Dice the pepper ends and saute in a pan with a little olive oil just until they’re starting to soften. Combine the cooked beef, sauteed onions, chopped peppers, rinsed black beans, tomatoes and juice, green chiles and juice, chile powder , and cumin in the frying pan. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 20 minutes over medium-low heat, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Turn off heat and let the mixture cool about 5 minutes, then mix in cooked rice and one cup of cheese. Stuff each pepper with the meat/rice mixture, pushing it down so peppers are tightly filled. Place peppers in baking dish and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil, top each pepper with a tablespoon of grated cheese and bake 10-20 minutes more, until cheese is melted and starting to brown and pepper skin can be pierced easily with a fork. Serve immediately.