My family LOVED Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches. With John Henry's Sizzle Steak it was so easy to make, and we could make it as salty and cheesy as we wanted. Last year we had to make some major dietary changes in our meal plan and unfortunately, Gluten and Dairy had to go, and along with it our beloved cheesesteak sandwiches. It was a dark and bun-less year! A friend offered me some very good advice... find something to replace it that is even more tasty and delicious than the original recipe so that you don't even miss the things you cannot have. From that point I was on a mission to redeem some of our favorite recipes and re-make them into something that we can all safely consume and more importantly... actually enjoy eating! I give you..... Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers!

This week we ordered our meat on John Henry's app and scheduled it to be picked up at the Flint Farmers' Market. Since Sizzle Steak was on the order I thought this was the perfect week to make this recipe. We stopped by Steady Eddy's Veggies at the market and picked up some fresh Bell Peppers, Onion, Garlic, and Mushrooms. The veggies are very flexible for this dish! You can use any color pepper, any kind of onion, any kind of mushrooms, and the more garlic the better! You can even omit a veggie or put less of it in, according to your tastes! We usually use Red Onions, but the Vidalia onions looked so good this week we decided to try those. Honestly, when we make these, we normally do not measure anything. Sometimes that means we make WAY too much but these leftovers do not go to waste! For your sake I tried to estimate about how much we put in so that you can make it too! You can find the detailed recipe in our Recipe Corner. Now let's talk cheese.... You'll see 2 different kinds of cheeses pictured, because I am lactose intolerant. The other 4 members of my household have no problem eating cheese so for them, we use John Henry's Onion & Garlic Cheese which is INCREDIBLE in this dish, but you can also use Provolone, Swiss, Mozzarella, there so many tasty choices! I chose a Garlic Herb Goat Cheese from the grocery store for my pepper and I was quite pleased with the lactose-free substitution!

So the first step is to get the oven warmed up to 350 degrees and get the peppers steaming to soften them. I put a little bit of water in the bottom of a baking dish. You can also use beef bone broth (which is yummy and super nutritious!) but my kids don't care for their peppers tasting like beef (I think it's delicious, personally, but I'm outnumbered) so we used water. Slice the tops of the peppers off and cut out the innards. Place the peppers upright in the pan and cover with tin foil. You'll want these to bake/steam for about 20 minutes or so. You can short cut here and microwave the peppers in a glass dish with water in the bottom, for about 5 minutes. However, I prefer the oven method because it bakes for the exact amount of time that it takes to prepare the filling, and I'm going to have to bake them for the second half anyways. Next, dump the pre-cut sizzle steak out into a bowl to salt and pepper it. It's finely shaved and each layer will be stuck to the next. You'll want to separate the layers with a pair of tongs and season the beef really well. We probably use more than a teaspoon here, but you should use as much or as little as you like. Next, dice up the pepper tops, and the onion and get those going in a hot skillet with some Grass-fed Butter. Once the onions are starting to soften, start adding the beef gradually in small amounts to the skillet. As the beef cooks move it to the outside of the pan and add some more until all the beef is cooked. Toss the mushrooms and garlic in towards the end, as well as the Worcestershire sauce and let everything cook up together until the beef is totally done (you should be able to cut through it easily with a wooden spatula.)

Stuff those peppers as full as you can get them and then layer slices or shreds of the cheese on top. We like using several thick-sliced layers of cheese because of the way it melts and dribbles down into the filling! If shredded cheese is what you have that's great too! If you like it extra cheesy you can mix some cheese into the filling before you stuff the peppers! Keep the foil off and bake everything together for another 20-30 minutes. If you want to brown the cheese on top you can turn the broiler on for the last 3-4 minutes. Serve them with rice on the side if you'd like, although they are very meaty and very filling all on their own! Get the whole recipe and full list of ingredients in our Recipe Corner.