A Recipe for Success: Supporting Communities Through Girl Scouts Grow

Our Girl Scout Grow participants were busy tending their gardens this summer and they have harvested and donated produce to food banks and food pantries in their areas.

One of this year’s participants, Girl Scout Cadette Roxanne, was inspired by the produce she’s grown through the program this summer and made a recipe from some of the same ingredients she is growing for the program!

Here’s what Roxanne said about her experience.

“I really like to cook and try new things, and now that the summer is here, I’ve been trying to experiment with more fruits and veggies. Stuffed peppers are not something we normally make for dinner, so I was really surprised at how much I liked them when I first tried them!

I wanted to try and find a way to use all four vegetables I received seeds for (I got tomatoes, cucumber, basil, and peppers), so we decided to top the peppers off with a creamy cucumber sauce. The tzatziki is really yummy on the stuffed peppers, and leftovers could be used as a dip for veggies or on a burger. If you don’t have all the ingredients, though, a dollop of sour cream on your peppers would work just as well!

Don’t be afraid to try some new spices in your stuffing mixture—adding some garlic, paprika, or cumin would be awesome! Just start with small amounts and add more if you need to.”

Roxanne shared her recipe for other Girl Scouts to try as well!

Stuffed Peppers

Makes 6-8 peppers
Ingredients for Peppers:
1 lb ground beef or turkey, cooked
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup feta cheese crumbles
1 cup diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Olive oil
Beef or chicken broth (optional)

Ingredients for Tzatziki Sauce:
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
½ cup grated cucumber (about half a cucumber)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, grated
¼ tbsp sea salt
½ tbsp olive oil
Fresh dill to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut off tops of peppers and remove seeds and light-colored membrane from inside of pepper. (You may need a parent’s help for this step.)
3. Brush the hollowed peppers with a small amount of olive oil, then bake for approximately 15 minutes.
4. While peppers are cooking, mix ground meat, rice, tomatoes, feta, and chopped basil in a large bowl until evenly mixed. If mixture seems dry, add a small amount of beef/chicken broth to the mixture.
5. Fill peppers with meat/rice/cheese mixture, then return to oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

While the stuffed peppers are cooking, make the tzatziki sauce.

1. Wrap grated cucumber in a clean towel and squeeze out excess water. (Make sure cucumber is grated as finely as possible.)
2. Combine cucumber, yogurt, lemon juice, dill, garlic, and salt in a bowl until well mixed.

Top stuffed peppers with a dollop of tzatziki sauce, garnish with a sprig of fresh dill, and enjoy! Roxanne served hers with some flatbread, hummus, and cucumber slices on the side, and the whole family enjoyed it! Do you love to cook as well? Try Roxanne’s recipe—or one of your own—and share the results with us at http://bit.ly/GSOHstories.