Southwestern Stuffed Peppers with Black Beans and Green Chiles

Ingredients

• 6 large bell peppers
• 1 lb. extra lean ground beef
• 1-2 tsp. olive oil if needed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes and juice
• 1 can diced green chiles with juice
• 1 tsp. Ancho chile powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 cups cooked white rice
• 1 cup + 6 tablespoons grated cheese

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. (I used a separate pan, but you can remove the beef and onions to a bowl and use that pan if you prefer.)Combine the cooked beef, sauteed onions, chopped peppers, rinsed black beans, tomatoes and juice, green chiles and juice, chile powder (I use Penzeys ), 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. (The pan should look dry.)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.