stuffed peppers

I love the smell of stuffed peppers baking... it just smells so cozy and homey. So delicious!

AJ and I made our monthly trip to B.J.'s (our version of Sam's Club) today and they had some amazing-looking peppers today, so I was struck with inspiration: stuffed peppers! We used red peppers because AJ isn't too big of a fan of green peppers. They made the end result a little sweeter.

I followed this recipe pretty closely, but I had to make a few variations due to what I had in my pantry (and what I didn't have). I'll reflect those in the recipe below, but if you want to use the original, be my guest!

I didn't end up using the tomato paste. Isn't that the biggest box of rice you've ever seen? Not sure what I was thinking.

First off, I started to boil a big pot of water with some salt in it for the peppers to cook in. At the same time, I started browning my ground beef and onion in the same skillet. Smells amazing.

While I was waiting for the pot of water to boil, I cut the tops off my peppers and took all the seeds out (easy if you make one cut all around the top... twist and the seeds kind of pop out with the stem.) Then I put them in the boiling water for just five minutes. Drain them and place them in a baking dish open side up :)

After the ground beef was browned, add in the tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, water, and minute rice. Stir and cover. Let cook 10-15 minutes. At this point, I preheated the oven to 350 in preparation for my great creation... or allrecipes.com' great creation :)

While this was all coming together, I put a can of tomato soup in a bowl. I then added about half a can full of water and whisked it all together. I sprinkled oregano and basil in to add to the Italian vibe I had going on.

After the beef mixture has cooked for 10 minutes, check to see if the rice is tender (taste test!). If it's not, let it cook for about 5 more minutes. When it is finished, scoop it into the pepper shells until the pepper is about half full. Spoon some of the sauce on top, and then fill it up with the beef mixture. Top it off with the rest of the sauce and sprinkle some cheese (I used mozzarella) to finish it.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 tablespoons dried chopped onion (I ran out of fresh and frozen)
• 6 bell peppers (I used red. Recipe recommended green. Whatever's easiest!)
• 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (I had to use basil, oregano, and garlic because it's what I had)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup Minute rice
• Mozzarella and parmesan for garnish

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.
2. In a large skillet, saute beef and onions for 5 minutes, or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Stuff each pepper halfway with the beef and rice mixture, and place peppers open side up in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine tomato soup with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency. Put a few tablespoons of the soup mixture over the beef in the peppers. Fill with the beef and rice and then pour the rest of the tomato soup over the peppers.
4. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese if desired.
5. Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.