New Recipe 4/52: Pan-fried Pepper Ring Meatloaf

So I saw Sunny Anderson (my fave food network chick, by the way) make this recently and it immediately went on my list of things to try.  I'll write out the recipe as I made it but I first want to include a link to the original in case you want to do it that way.  I skipped the fresh/fried sage and my peppers were a little small so I did not get as many rings as she did.  But other than that I stuck to the recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pan-fried-meatloaf-in-tricolor-peppers-recipe/index.html

Ingredients: 3 bell peppers, preferably in 3 colors to make it prettier.  1/2 lb ground beef, 1/2 lb ground turkey, 2 slices white bread, cubed, 28 oz can crushed tomato with basil (I just added some basil to a regular can), 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 egg, 1 small onion, chopped fine, 1 tsp or so worcestershire sauce (something I am incapable of spelling or pronouncing correctly), salt n pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove the core/seeds from the peppers, slice into rings about 1 inch high.  Mix together everything elseexcept the crushed tomato, only mix in about 1/2 cup of the tomatoes.  Press the meat mixture into the pepper rings.  Get a little oil hot in a skillet-make sure it's one that can also go in the oven-cook the rings w/meat in them about 5 minutes each side.  Add the rest of the tomatoes to the pan and bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

 I thought this came out pretty good.  I like the idea of a stuffed pepper meatloaf, although this particular meatloaf blend was not to my normal taste, it was a little moist for what I normally like.  Next time I will probably use bread crumbs rather than fresh bread, to try and dry it out a little.  But overall it was a pretty good dish and I was even able to get my kids to take a few bites without too much fuss.  I took leftovers to work the next night and it was still good reheated, the peppers kept a good amount of crunch to them.  I will definitely be trying this one again.  My husband and I both like meatloaf and I like to try different variations on them so we don't get sick of the same kind all the time.  So be ready for a lot more meatloaf recipes over the next year!!!