Stuffed Green Peppers

Some of you know that my mom and I are cooking together once a week. We try to find recipes that will freeze well and can be heated up for convenience later. One recipe we tried last weekend was stuffed green peppers. This recipe had to be altered, though, because no real cook follows a recipe to a T.

The price of fresh tomatoes is astronomical, so we used some canned tomatoes we had on hand. I also think mushrooms would have tasted good in the sauce. Instead of instant rice, we used wild rice.

If I was making this again, I would likely not use as much or any celery and would have sauteed the onion in garlic first - I think that would have made these perfect. Maybe celery salt would have been ok, but for me, the amount of celery was overpowering.

I also think using a tablespoon of tomato paste might have added a little more zing to the sauce.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients

6 medium tomatoes - peeled, seeded and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3 ribs celery, diced

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup water

2 teaspoons salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided

4 medium green peppers

1 pound lean ground beef

1 cup instant rice, cooked

1 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

· In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, combine tomatoes, onion, celery, tomato sauce, water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil.

· Reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes.

· Meanwhile, cut tops off of green peppers and remove seeds; set aside.

· In a bowl, combine ground beef, rice, basil and remaining salt and pepper; mix well.

· Fill peppers with beef mixture. Carefully place peppers in tomato sauce. Spoon some sauce over tops of peppers.

· Cover and simmer for 40-45 minutes or until beef is cooked and peppers are tender. (We actually put these into a 9x13 and baked them on 450 for about 40 minutes - worked well to cook the meat.