Stuffed Green Peppers

Made this the other day...it was YUMMY! It does take at least an hour to make, but half of that time it's in the oven. It's very easy and mild flavored. Kelley and I loved it!

Stuffed Green Peppers

6 green bell peppers (we used 4 large instead with the same amount of filling)

salt to taste

1 pound ground beef

1/3 C chopped onion

salt and pepper to taste

1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 C uncooked rice (probably have to use white or it will take longer to cook)

1/2 C water (I had to use almost 3 times this much to keep it from burning the pan!)

1 C shredded Cheddar cheese

2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup (I used just a single can of tomato sauce instead)

1. In a large skillet, saute beef and onions for 5 mintes, or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.

2. While the beef/rice mixture is cooking, 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 and drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 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. (I didn't use water with the tomato sauce, just poured it right from the can on top of the peppers).

4. Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.

I have also in the past used this basic recipe to make a CASSEROLE. I did this when I either had just pieces of peppers left over from fajitas or something or didn't have enough green peppers. Instead of stuffing the green peppers I cut them into chunks and mix everything together, topping with cheese. I have also added other colors of peppers for variety and flavor as well as potatoes (cut into chunks) if it simply needed bulking up.