Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

I love stuffed peppers.  LOVE THEM.  But I hate the many steps involved in making them.  So, the other night, I decided to use mini-peppers and make an "unstuffed" pepper dish.  No stuffing is involved, so it cut down on the number of steps.  Also, whenever I make the stuffed variety I always up with more stuffing than peppers.  I never know what to do with the stuffing - do I bake it alongside the peppers, do I just save it as leftovers?  I usually end up baking it (because I like it a little crunchy!) and serving it alongside the peppers.

Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef or turkey
2 C cooked brown rice
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
1 jar of marinara sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
24-30 mini multi-colored sweet peppers, washed, tops removed and seeded

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Brown ground meat in skillet.  When done, combine the meat with the rice, diced tomatoes, about 3/4 of the jar of marinara sauce and the spices.  Stir to combine.  Spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray and place the mini-peppers on the bottom of the dish.  Cover the peppers with the meat and rice mixture.  Add more marinara sauce on top of the meat and rice mixture if desired.  Bake in oven for about 25-30 mins or until the dish reaches your desired level of browning :)

AFC Note: You can use more or less rice depending how you like your meat to rice ratio.  Same thing with the sauce.  I love sauce, so I used an entire jar!