GRILLED CHILIES WITH BEEF AND CHEESE STUFFING #RSC

Steps:

• Brown the ground beef. Drain excess fat. Stir in softened cream cheese while still hot so that it melts evenly together.
• Mix jack cheese, tomatoes, onions, and salt into the beef-cheese mixture.
• Clean seeds out of peppers by first cutting around the stem then gently sliting one side of the pepper lengthwise almost but not quite to the end.
• Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture. Don't overstuff, you want to be able to close the slit so that the cheese doesn't leak out.
• Wrap each pepper in foil and fold the ends over to create a good seal.
• Grill on medium-high with the lid down about 3-5 minutes per side (rolling at least 3 times), or until the pepper is grilled to the desired doneness and the filling is hot. Grilling an extra, unstuffed pepper in the usual way can serve as a doneness indicator since it would be done just a little bit before the stuffed pepper. We like our peppers tender but not mushy.
• I recommend serving with a summery salad with plenty of tomatoes and cucumbers in it, tortillas, and Mexican rice.
• Note: Can be prepped ahead and held in the fridge before grilling but grilling will take longer if the filling is cold.
• Note: Peppers vary in size so if you have any filling left put it into a small dish and heat well to serve with tortillas or pita chips.
• Note:Wear gloves when handling the chilies and be careful not to touch eyes or other sensitive body parts.
• Option: Mix could be used to stuff Jalepeno peppers as appetizers if you cut the tomatoes small enough and used a fish basket for the grilling.
• Option: If you are feeding people who can't handle hot peppers substitute Cubanelles or Italian Frying Peppers. I do not recommend bell peppers for this recipe because the peppers will cook to the mushy point by the time the filling is hot.