Buzzfeed’s popular recipe page, “Tasty,” has delighted Facebook users with innovative, delicious-looking videos that I could spend hours scrolling down. Like I seriously think I’ve watched every video at least 3 times over and convinced myself that I would buy the ingredients to make their butternut squash alfredo dish every time I went to the store (but I have yet to recreate their butternut squash alfredo). This past week, however, Giant had a sale on red bell peppers, and I made the split second decision to buy some ground beef** and try to make their “Taco Stuffed Peppers!”
I will admit, I did not stay entirely truthful to their recipe. I’m not a huge fan of corn or beans, so I omitted those ingredients. And, I forgot to buy the rice. The rest of the recipe was easy to follow and it all came together in about 30 minutes (assuming that you put the pepper in the oven and start cooking the ground beef at the same time). However, I did note a few things that may improve my (and anyone else’s) experience for future endeavors:
1. The pepper on its own is kind of bland, so I would recommend salting it before roasting to give it a little extra depth of flavor.
2. The pepper is boiling lava hot when you take it out of the oven. That sounds obvious, but I didn’t think of it at the time, so I grabbed the pepper straight out of the oven and tried to immediately fill it, right after it had been roasting for 20 minutes in a 350ºF oven. Feel free to judge; that was not my brightest hour.
3. I substituted salsa for a small tomato and a jalapeño pepper, and the guacamole for straight avocados. Both were excellent decisions; 10/10, highly recommend.
This was a really…wait for it…tasty dish. I loved it! I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone of pre-packaged burgers, grilled chicken, and pasta dishes to try something new. I definitely don’t have the money to try all of their recipes, but this dish cost me no more than $10 to make (but to be fair, I already had an onion and shredded cheddar in my fridge). If you’re looking for a fun and hassle-free dish, Tasty’s “Taco Stuffed Peppers” is a gret jumping-off point into your college culinary adventure!
My rating of the recipe as is: 8.5/10
With my substitutions: 9.9/10 (in my opinion, of course, feel free to expand upon this recipe as you see fit!)
**If you’ve read my previous article about cooking in college, then you would know that I am supposed to stay away from red meat. However, I should not abstain from red meat entirely, because if I do then I may become truly intolerant to it. Therefore, about once a month, I buy a small amount of lean ground beef and I make one small meal with it (the rest is frozen and used for future recipes).