STUFFED PEPPERS 101

Steps:

• 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*F. Stuff each pepper 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. Pour over the peppers.
• 4. Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.
• My Note: I play with the recipe some. I halved the peppers (lengthwise), sauted onions separately along with 2 minced garlic pieces, cooked the rice separately, used 1 can of DICED tomatoes* (why would you ever buy a can of tomatoes and THEN dice them?), and mixed the ingredients together after browning the beef**, allowing them to warm slightly in the skillet before stuffing into the peppers. You can use the extra juice from the can of tomatoes to keep the rice from burning. I also added quite a bit of basil, oregano, and Italian seasoning, as well as extra Worcestershire sauce. Putting just a little cheese in the bottom of each pepper helped as well. Lastly, I only used one can of tomato soup. Even cut in half, 25 min was needed to get them nice & hot. Next time, I'll try adding some pepper as well. * Using a can of diced tomatoes with jalepeno peppers adds just the right amount of kick to these! **You can also use 1/2 beef & 1/2 3-7% lean ground turkey to reduce fat content -- tastes the same!
• I'll definitely make this again. I used ground turkey instead of beef, and a can of petite diced tomatoes w/ liquid instead of whole toms. Used Arborio rice as that's what I had in the pantry. Added minced garlic to the meat mixture. I substituted 1/2°C of beef broth instead of plain water. Used 1 can of tomato soup & 1 sm. can of tomato sauce w/ a TBS or two of Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning. Excellent, healthy, and much better than the stuffed peppers. I think that par-boiling the peppers before stuffing them was key to the texture and flavor.