Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I remember my mother making stuffed peppers when I was growing up. I never liked the peppers, even though she grew them in her garden, but I loved the meat mixture that was put inside each pepper. Now that I am older, my taste has changed and I find that eating the peppers aren't so bad now.  Actually, they are really quite tasty!  Even my kids look forward to this meal.

Instead of using store bought peppers and tomatoes, we use the ones we grow in the garden. They are packed with flavor!

Ingredients

6-8 medium large bell peppers, assorted colors
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 lbs of ground beef
3/4 cup uncooked white rice
1 can (14.5 oz) peeled chopped tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 - 16 oz can tomato sauce * See below
1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Cook the rice according to package directions.

In a large cast iron skillet, cook the ground beef and onion until it is no longer pink. Drain it.

Stir in the cooked rice, and diced tomatoes to the cooked onion and hamburger. Salt and pepper to taste. You can also add some onion and garlic powder to the mixture as well

Wash the peppers. Cut around the stem with a paring knife. Remove the stem, seeds and membrane from the inside of the peppers. Place them in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, so they are standing up. If your baking dish has a lid, that is even better, because the peppers need to be covered during baking time.

Place the hamburger and rice mixture inside each pepper. Stuff them as full as you can, up to the top. If you have hamburger and rice left over, just put it in the baking dish alongside the peppers. 

Mix the tomato sauce with the water in a small bowl. Pour the tomato sauce over the stuffed peppers. If you have any hamburger and rice mixture in the pan, pour some sauce over that too.  Cover with a lid or a piece of foil.

Bake for 60 minutes. Baste the peppers with the juices in the baking dish several times as the peppers bake.

Remove the lid or foil and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes. 

* Sometimes, we don't have tomato sauce in the house. Instead, we use tomato juice. Just omit mixing it with the water.