Stuffed Green Peppers

Ryan said his Grandma Adams used to make really good stuffed peppers, so I asked her if she could send me the recipe since we've been getting peppers from our garden. I have never had stuffed peppers before, so I really wanted to try them! This is a great recipe! :)


Ingredients:
6 large green peppers
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion (or minced onion)
16 oz. can tomatoes, not drained (or fresh tomatoes, cut up and peeled)
1/2 cup rice, uncooked
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup cheese, grated
black pepper

Directions:
Cut off tops of peppers. Chop enough tops for 1/4 cup and set aside. Cook green peppers in boiling water for at least 5 minutes. If needed, cook a little longer. Drain. Sprinkle inside lightly with salt.
In skillet cook ground beef, onion and 1/4 cup green pepper until browned & vegetables tender. Drain fat. Add tomatoes (canned or fresh), uncooked rice, water, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer 15-18 minutes, or until rice is tender. Stir in cheese. Stuff peppers with meat mixture. Place in baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.


This recipe didn't specify what type of rice to use. We just had some brown rice that takes 40-50 minutes to cook, so that's what we used. I'm guessing that since it says to simmer for 15-18 minutes that it's supposed to be instant rice. Oops! We just let our mixture sit and simmer for about 40 or 45 minutes and the rice was fine.

We used fresh tomatoes, but we did not peel them. In the pictures you will notice the skin of the tomatoes in the filling. It was still good without peeling the tomatoes if you want to save a little time and just cut them up. If you want to peel them, the easiest way is to put them in a pan on hot water for a few minutes. The skin should peel off easily.

Also, we ended up having more than 1/4 cup of chopped green peppers after cutting the tops off, so we doubled all the rest of the ingredients (except the beef) and we had enough filling to stuff some zucchini too! They were both really good--the peppers and zucchini! :)

Now for the zucchini, you'll need to boil them after cleaning out the middle so that they are soft. Then bake the same as the stuffed peppers.


When Ryan's grandma sent the recipe to me, she said "Hope you enjoy because Grpa sure did." Ryan was really close to his Grandpa Adams growing up. He passed away in January 2007, so I was able to get to know him for a couple of years. After Ryan's grandma said that his grandpa enjoyed them, it made this recipe even that much more special.

I really do hope that anyone who tries this recipe enjoys them! :)