Janice’s Stuffed Peppers

I’ve been on a real dinner kick lately in the recipes I’ve been bringing you, which can only mean one thing: I’m about to get on a dessert kick for a while! You know, more organized bloggers would bring you a meal idea, followed by a dessert idea, followed by a bread and so on. However, I’ve never been able to honestly apply the word “organized” to myself in any area of my life so I just go with what I’m in the mood for. ~shrugs~ I’ve said it before and I’m gonna suggest it to you now: Instead of berating yourself over and over about persistent character flaws that seem unchangeable, just embrace them and declare them part of your charm. ~smiles sweetly~

It works for me and life has been a whole lot more relaxing since I’ve stopped being my biggest critic. I now leave that job to my children ~grins~.

Me: “No Katy, you can’t have ice cream for breakfast.”

Katy: “You’re not fair!”

Me: “Yeah, but I’m okay with that.”

We all went out to eat this past weekend and as the four of us were sitting at the table Brady asked if he could have some new fangled device. Seeing as how we have every manner of new fangled device in our house already and my kids seem to come up with a new one they want every five minutes, I told him “No” and Ricky chimed in to back me up by explaining why he didn’t need it. Brady took a deep breath and leaned in to say “No offense, Ma, but lately, whenever I ask for things, you’ve kinda gotten to be predictable.”

I tried not to laugh, I really did, but I found myself having another one of those moments where I realize I have visibly and irreversibly, turned into my mother – and I’m okay with that, too.

Today I’m bringing you my mother’s stuffed peppers. There are tons of ways to make stuffed bell peppers and I’ve never found one I didn’t like, so I figured I’d start with Mama’s recipe first. I may get a wild hair in the future and bring you another entirely different one though - stranger things have happened.

You’ll need: Tomato Soup, cheese, chili powder*, chopped garlic, rice, onion, ground beef, peppers, salt, and pepper.

My mother has always insisted on Mexene chili powder so I try to be a good daughter and use it when I can find it. I’ve also used Tone’s and it was really good as well.

Garden bell peppers would be DIVINE to use in this later on in the summer but no matter how many bell peppers I grow I can’t seem to have enough to cook with because I eat them as soon as they are ripe. Cut it in strips and dip it in some dressing – yumm!

*Mama wants me to point out that these peppers won’t taste anything at all like chili, despite having chili powder in them. They will have some good bit of spice to them, though. In other words, Terri, you can’t eat them. Yes, you, Terri Leverett.

I love this rice. I used to have a neighbor who was from South Korea and she got me turned on to it. For those of us who like sweet rice for breakfast (I’ll show you how to make it soon) this makes the BEST sweet rice you’ve ever had. Oh my, soooo good.

I use it just about anytime something calls for rice. It is kind of sticky when cooked and holds the sauce and gravy really well because of that. All of our local grocery stores carry it in the Asian foods section.

Fill a pot with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Turn the heat up to medium high so it can get to boiling while we do the rest.

Peel and chop your onion.

I should probably use a different knife for this but I tend to use paring knives more than any other.

Place your onions and garlic in a skillet. Normally you would place your ground beef in here as well and cook them all together but I’ve already cooked my ground beef so instead I just added a tablespoon of oil so everything would brown nicely.

In the instructions below, I have you browning your beef and all of this together because that is how most folks will end up doing it.

When those get cooked a bit, move on to the next step.

This is my husband’s favorite smell, cooking onions. He swears he doesn’t like onions but every time he walks in the front door while I’m browning him he says “WOW, something smells wonderful!”

~sighs~

He also doesn’t like gravy and thinks cornbread should be sweet.

~hangs her head in shame~ I know, I know…

Add in tomato soup.

Did y’all see that post I did on Simple And Delicious Tomato Soup?

Add in ground beef…

Chili powder…

Salt…

Pepper…

and rice.

Stir it up a bit. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about ten minutes.

By the way, a few days ago I asked folks to do a little introduction of themselves over on the Southern Plate Family Facebook page

and the response has been amazing. If you’d like to get to know your SP family a little better, hop on over there and join us!

Meanwhile, rinse your peppers under water and cut the tops off.

Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.

Drop them in the boiling water and boil them for about five minutes.

Carefully remove with tongs.

Stir cheese into beef and rice mixture.

Spray an 8×8 pan with cooking spray.

Place peppers inside and stuff with mixture.

Top with additional cheese and place in 350 degree oven for ten minutes.

Hide them from your family so you can eat them all yourself.

ENJOY!

Janice’s Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1 cup cheddar cheese (plus more to sprinkle on top)
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 4 medium sized bell peppers

Instructions

1. Fill large pot with water. Add a teaspoon of salt and set over medium high heat to bring to a boil.
2. Chop onion. In large skillet, brown hamburger meat, chopped onion, and garlic until hamburger meat is browned. Drain off grease. Add spices, soup, and rice to beef mixture. Stir well. Simmer for ten minutes.
3. While that is simmering, wash peppers and remove tops. Scoop out seeds with a spoon. Drop bell peppers into boiling water and boil for five minutes. Carefully remove with tongs.
4. Spray 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place peppers upright inside. Add one cup cheese to beef and rice mixture and stir until melted. Spoon into peppers. Top with additional cheese.
5. Bake at 350 for ten minutes.

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About Southern Plate: I wanted to thank you for all of the emails and comments, they really do mean the world to me! I try to answer as many as possible, especially if it is a question about a recipe, but as our family gets larger that is becoming more and more difficult.

If you have a question about a past post or recipe, please post it on the Southern Plate Family Page on Facebook and chances are one of our other family members will respond directly. Another GREAT place where you’re pretty sure to get an answer is the Front Porch Forum. You have to register to be able to post but once you do, you’re off to the races. Folks share a lot of great recipes over there too, with hundreds already posted.

If you’ve contacted me or left a comment and I haven’t responded, I’m terribly sorry and I’ll do the best I can to get to it if time permits. This is a one woman show here and I struggle daily to make sure my family and children come first, which means that some emails and comments have to go unanswered. I am currently spending eight to ten hours a day on Southern Plate things in addition to writing my book and my work for Southern Living, which is wonderful but also very busy-busy. At the end of the day there are usually at least a hundred new emails to answer – but there are also two kids right here who just want their Mama to shut down the computer and spend time with them. I know y’all would make the same choice I do!

Love you!

Gratefully,

Christy

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Posted by Christy Jordan on Feb 25 2010. Filed under Main Course, Rice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry