Stuffed Bell Pepper

For some reason, I have never been overly fond of bell peppers, but my daughter, the pickiest eater in the house, loves them, so I've been picking them up at the farmer's market and cooking more with them this summer.  This is a recipe adapted from a couple of different ones.  I like that it includes meat, starch and veggie all in one.

• 6-8 bell peppers*
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 onion
• 2 cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 can spicy Ro-tel
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook rice according to directions, set aside.  Slice tops off peppers, remove seeds.  Cook pepper cups in boiling water 3-4 minutes, remove and drain.  Remove stem from pepper tops, chop up the rest and saute in hot oil 5-6 minutes.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and salt to skillet, heat until bubbly, then remove and cool.

Mix rice, tomato sauce and beef together, stuff into peppers.  Bake peppers for 1 hour or until meat is cooked through.


*recipes mostly call for 6, but this makes a lot of stuffing and can fill 8.

 If you have extra, bake it in a casserole.