Stuffed Green Peppers

I made this back before I left for Colorado, but just now having the chance to share.  This was an easy dinner- I just made a little extra to freeze for a future dinner.   Stuffed Green Peppers are an all-time comfort food and can be prepared fairly healthy as well.  This dinner was prompted by the fact that we happened upon a sale at the store advertising 3 green peppers for a $1.00.  Hubby can't pass up a deal and we ended up with ten green peppers. (We actually bought 12, but used two for another recipe.)  Hence, the reason for stuffed green peppers.  I chose to substitute ground turkey sausage instead of ground beef in my mixture. If frozen, you can even warm them up in the crock pot during the day for an easy, wholesome dinner.

Ingredients:

4 green peppers

1 lb. of lean ground meat (beef, turkey, or Italian sausage) 

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

dash of garlic salt

1 15 oz. can of Italian diced tomatoes

1 jar or can of spaghetti or tomato sauce 

I started be steaming my rice first.  I have a rice cooker, so I used this while I was able to concentrate on cutting the tops off of the peppers, de-seeding them, and cleaning them.

I began to brown the meat.  Next, I chopped up the onions. Once the meat was thoroughly browned, I added the onion. After the rice was cooked, I added this to the meat mixture on the stove.

My next step was to add the can of diced tomatoes.  I like this added touch and it adds a bit more body and flavor. 

I let this warm slightly on the stove, remembering to give it a good stir every now and then to keep it from sticking. While I did this, I poured about 1/3 of the tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan.  

(*Note: I made a batch of four and then a batch of 6 for the freezer, so this is my "freezer" pan.)

I then scooped out a generous amount of the meat and rice mixture into each green pepper and very carefully arranged them in the pan. This was difficult to do in such a spacious pan.  My advice would be to make sure that you buy peppers that are fairly "flat" on the bottom so they "sit" better.  I did not think of this in our green- pepper-buying frenzy and was somewhat regretting it at this stage of the game...

Once I had the peppers arranged and ready to go, I poured the remaining tomato sauce over the top.  I like them saucy. 

Bake in the oven for approximately 40 minutes at 450 degrees.  Remember to periodically spoon the sauce in the pan over the peppers to keep them from drying out.  Feel free to top with cheese if that is your thing. 

If you would rather freeze, cover with foil and freeze the pan for dinner some other night. 

Enjoy!