It always makes me happy when I can bring you another ground beef recipe because I know a lot of families rely on Ground beef as a staple on their dinner table – mine certainly does!
What makes you happy? I think for most of us, it takes a lot less than we realize. A sunny day, the smell of daffodils or cinnamon or apples. We find tiny little happy moments all day long and all it takes is just that split second to stop and pay attention to them.
I’ve known a lot of people who really hold back on feeling happy though. They save it for something big, pinning their happiness on a huge paycheck sometime in the future, a house as big as their neighbors, or their name in lights. Rather than take delight in the little things, the constant influx of opportunities to be happy that appear before us each day, they hold off and keep joy at a distance, holding it up as something to strive to reach one day when Perfect Plan A comes to fruition and the stars align or some other such nonsense. As my grandmama would say, God love ’em.
Me, I’ll take happiness and joy over a hundred little things a day rather than one big thing every decade. Today, this recipe makes me happy :). I love stuffed bell peppers. I love Ketchup. I love ground beef. This combines them all into a one dish meal – which I also love.
Happy happy, joy joy!
Let’s Eat!
You’ll need: Ground beef, saltine crackers, onion, ketchup, bell pepper, egg, and italian seasoning.
You’ll also need a slow cooker. I’m using my Hamilton Beach Set and Forget .
Now crush your saltines and place them in a bowl with your egg.
Add your ground beef and mix it up well with your hands.
Shape meat into patties and place in the bottom of your slow cooker.
Take your ketchup and water and add a tablespoon Italian seasoning. mix that up really well in a cup or bowl.
You know, if dry Italian seasoning was the only seasoning I had in my cabinet, I could live happily the rest of my life.
Alright, I would also need some cinnamon, allspice, garlic powder, and cumin. But beyond those, I’m pretty well set. It drives me nigh on bat crazy to see a recipe that calls for 1/8 of a teaspoon each of twenty different spices. As my friend Terri Leverett says, K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Sweetie!
Pour your sauce over the patties.
Chop up your onions and bell pepper and add those in.
Cover and cook on low, 7-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.
When it is done it’ll look like this and your house will smell like stuffed bell peppers deluxe 🙂
If you want at this point, you can add a little more ketchup to the mixture to thicken your sauce but I like it just like this.
Serve over rice and enjoy!
- 1-2 Pounds Ground Beef (Can use less and make smaller patties, or more and make larger patties)
- ½ sleeve Saltines, crushed
- 1 Egg
- ⅔ Cup Ketchup
- ⅓ Cup Water
- 1 Tablespoon dry Italian Seasoning
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- Crush Saltines and place in large bowl. Add in egg and ground beef. Mix well with hands. Form into 4 patties. Place patties in bottom of slow cooker. Wash hands because touching raw meat is pretty unsanitary but I appreciate you following my recipe :).
- Mix ketchup, water, and Italian seasoning. Pour over beef. Top with onions and bell pepper.
- Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
- Serve over rice.
Now tell me what makes you happy in the comments below!
You might also enjoy 20 Recipes For Ground Beef.
“What you do makes a difference,
and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
– Jane Goodall
Thank you Jenny for submitting this! Add your quote to our ever growing collection by clicking here. Lift someone up today!
My Cookbook is One Today! Click here to read about it.
Yum 
Christy, this sounds great. I love meatloaf and stuffed peppers and this combines the best of both with the ease of the crock pot. Yum. I will try it this week!
Hey Ally! That’s exactly what it is! Let me know how you like it. It’s been a favorite of mine for years!
Gratefully,
Christy
I want that! It looks so Delicious and I cannot wait to fix it for the boys! Thank You! <3 and Hugs!
I think I need to get me a Crock Pot!
Oh yeah. You gotta have one of them, they are wonderful. I use mine at least once a week. Plus Christie has some great crock pot recipes. Chicken and dressing, love it.
Hamburgers what a great why to fix them. I love stuffed peppers and will be making this quite often!
I love this idea of easy stuffed bell peppers!
I agree completely that being happy every day about countless little things makes for a much happier life than only being happy about big things. Some of the little things that make me happy include: looking at the beauty of the sky every day at all different times a day, trying a new recipe (like yours!), savoring the signature joys of each season (such as the autumn sight of gold aspen leaves against the mountains where I grew up), reading old letters from my mom (who I lost a few years ago), reading a new magazine, listening to music I love, thinking about a good quotation, talking to my daughter or a friend on the phone, praying and reading my Bible.
My mother doesn’t cook for herself much anymore, so I will make this for her this weekend. It sounds delicious and filling.
I know my husband woukd love this one! Thank you Christy! I’ll cook this on Thursday when his daughter comes for lunch.
As a fan of meat loaf this recipe is right up my alley and down my street! I’m also thinkin’ it would make a great Italian version of Sloppy Joes, too! Just use browned ground beef and the sauce ingredients! Served over buns made out of Jordan Roll recipe…YUM!! So, thanks for giving me TWO supper ideas today Christy!
Thanks, I am always looking for recipes to use in my crock pot. Thanks you are so with it.
My husband will LOVE this!!! He LOVES my stuffed bell peppers and he LOVES ketchup…a win win!!!! Plus it’s another recipe I can use with ground turkey!!! Thanks Christy!
You hit on three BIG issues for our meals….
1 – crockpot-able
2 – uses ground beef
3 – not a lot of unusual ingredients
SouthernPlate rocks!
This sounds yummy! I’m going to make it with ground turkey.
It takes very little to make me happy as I have never been materially wealthy. . Just waking up from a good night’s sleep, my morning coffee, a parking place open just where I am headed , finding a good sale, stumbling on something I wanted at a yard sale or thrift shop, a phone call from my kids or an old, a day with no bills in the mailbox, a warm super, an ice cream cone, a gorgeous sunset, my lawn all mowed for the coming week, a good library book, a favorite Tv show. My blessings are endless.
What makes me happy is to wake up every morning next to my wife.
Hamburger recipes look great!
that is so incredibly sweet!
I feel happy and blessed by my husband’s restored health, our children, our grandchildren, family gatherings, friends, the smell of freshly baked bread, the smell of freshly mown grass, pies, cakes or cookies baking, dinner cooking, a clean home, fresh laundry, singing, babies, puppies, kittens, good books and magazines, holidays, quiet evenings at home and so many other blessings.
I am thankful that I have five senses and that the earth is full of beautiful things to see, hear, touch, taste and smell.
Yum! I love stuffed peppers, and I like this different approach. I always cut my pepper up and mix it in with everything anyway 🙂
This looks so good. My husband can’t eat bell peppers though….they do a number on him and talk back to him for days. May have to make these for me one day when he’s off at deer camp. Just curious…will your kids eat that with all the onions and peppers?
My son will eat anything that isn’t nailed down. I have to keep a close eye on the kitchen table at times to make sure he doesn’t take a bite out of it 🙂 Katy Rose prefers things that are orange 🙂 Cheese, cantaloupe, carrots…she’s my picky eater. Thank goodness for yogurt and pb&J’s, she won’t starve anytime soon 🙂 Brady used to be a picky eater too though, so I don’t anticipate this lasting very long!
Maybe sub celery for the bell pepper. And toss some chopped or sliced carrot in.
Lolz @elaineraye for your happiness at not having bills in the mailbox! Same here for sure and other things that make me happy are smells of homemade bread baking, my dog and cat playing sillily?(new word for you all), warm afternoons where I can sit outside with a cup of good coffee and enjoy my neighborhood, etc. etc.
Looks like another GREAT RECIPE Christy! Wondering it tastes after freezing some tho – does it ‘mush’ the flavors together too much? Any ideas?
The smile on my childrens (grand & great grand as well) faces and knowing Jesus is coming to take me home one day!
Making other people happy is my biggest one!
Friends just gave me a big bag of green peppers after church on Sunday, so this recipe is perfect!
Seeing my grandson’s smile when he wakes from his nap makes me happy.
Lavender or orange scented cleaning products make me happy.
Reading your uplifting posts makes me happy–you are a blessing to so many!
Sounds yummy to me! I love crock pot cooking! =^..^=
I’m happy to still be here because I’m a cancer survivor since 1995. I’ve had time to watch my kids grow up & enjoy 3 wonderful grandchildren. Life is good. xx
I love Stuffed Peppers too! This is a must try recipe! What makes me happy? Being at home all by myself for a whole day and not getting out of my pj’s!
What makes me happy is getting to talk with my children as often as possible with their busy schedules (all grown up they are), spending time with my beautiful grandson, having people to cook for, and having time to work on my quilting!!!!! (Learning to hand quilt right now–had done all on sewing machine before–finding there is something quite satisfying about seeing the quilt stitching pattern form on the front AND back of the quilt and feel the changes taking place as the project becomes a quilt–not just layers of loose fabric and batting.) Quilt pictures on FACEBOOK–Tania Lynn Petry. Come on over and take a look!
Your quilts are beautiful Tania!!!!
Going to try this. Oh how I love my crockpot! I think I will use a red or yellow pepper, they are a little sweeter and find a sweet onion. Oh my that will be good. My grandsone loves him some catsup and plain rice, this will do him wonderful. Thank you.
I hope he loves it Virginia!! Let me know what he thinks.
This looks yummy! Can’t wait to try it out – just a quick question though….
How do you keep the sauce from getting too greasy, since the beef cooks right there in it? I know I could use extra lean beef, but that gets pricey.
Thanks for the recipes and keep ’em coming!
This may be one I can try on my picky sister. She loves burgers and ketchup. Not onions, bell peppers, or rice. I believe I could put creamed potatoes under them.
Just waking up every morning is a blessing. Working with children and see the expression on their face when something clicks.
Great idea Sandra, let me know what she thinks. I know how it is to feed a picky eater!!
mY FAMILY LOVE MY SEVEN GRANDSONS
Slow cooker recipes make me happy! There’s nothing like coming home and dinner’s ready. It’s like having a personal chef
I bet this one would be good on rolls, too, very sloppy Sloppy Joes.
They make me happy too Carole!! I like the fix and forget it.
It makes me happy that whenever I wake up in the morning and look at my husband he still smiles and says “Good morning, Angel” after 10 years. It makes me happy to hear the grand-kids say “Gramma, gramma, gramma” when they are really excited. New recipes make me happy, old recipes make me happy. The way the cats circle and rub my leg when I come home from work, a cup of coffee and a beautiful sunrise, the stab of joy from hearing the choir at church, the sound of my husband laughing, the sound of the lawn mower, snow falling silently … The list is endless, I am very blessed. You have GREAT recipes!
YOU DON’T HAVE TO WAIT…
until you finish school,
until you go back to school,
until you lose ten pounds,
until you gain ten pounds,
until you have kids,
until your kids leave the house,
until you start work,
until you retire,
until you get married,
until you get divorced,
until Friday night,
until Sunday morning,
until you get a new car or home,
until your car or home is paid off,
until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter,
until you are off welfare,
until the first or fifteenth,
until your song comes on,
until you’ve had a drink,
until you’ve sobered up,
until you die,
to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy…
~ Author unknown