Stuffed Pepper Casserole

I love stuffed green peppers. Love them. When we were first married I'd make them about once a month. After we had our first child it was more like once a year. After our second, I realized that I missed them soooo much, but that they were just too time consuming for me. So I tweaked things, and made it into a casserole, with a few less steps.

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Ingredients

• 3 large Green Peppers, diced
• 1 lb ground meat (I usually use sausage or hamburger)
• 1 large Onion, diced
• 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (or maybe it's 14.5 oz, whatever normal regular size)
• 1 14 oz can of spicy tomatoes (there was a store here that used to sell a diced tomatoes with green chilis that was fabulous!)
• 1 1/2 C rice (I use 1 c white rice, and 1/2 c brown)
• 2 C water
• Worcestershire sauce
• basil
• oregano

1. In a frying pan cook together meat, onion, and about 1/3-1/2 of the green peppers. Cook until meat is browned. 
2. Add in tomatoes (undrained), water, and rice.
3. Add seasoning. I really don't measure, but I would say I use between 2-4 T of Worcestershire, depending on mood. And about 2 tsp each of basil and oregano. 
4. Stir together, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and let cook until rice is tender. Between 15-20 minutes. 
5. Preheat oven to 375. (I do this as I add the seasoning, because my oven takes forever to heat up).
6. Spray with oil a large casserole dish. Mine is glass. 
7. Layer bottom of dish with the rest of the green peppers (bet you thought I forgot about them).
8. When rice is done, add into the dish. 
9. Cover with foil. Cook for 30 minutes.

Yummy!

The reason I split the green peppers is because I like the meat flavored with them (and if you get sausage in Western NY you know you HAVE to cook it with peppers and onions, or it doesn't taste right). But I still want the crunch of the green peppers, that you wouldn't get if they had all been simmering in the pan the whole time. 
I also used to stir the second half of the green peppers in, but it was hard because my pan wasn't big enough. Now I like it this way. I can guarantee that everywhere is getting the same amount, and it takes me seconds compared to minutes to do. Plus it's an easy, fun job for a child to do. 
If you aren't milk free I suppose you could melt cheese on top, but seriously it's very flavorful and the cheese just masks the flavor. 


This is great in December. It's red and green.

Work in Progress: BLT Soup

A few years ago I had BLT soup in a restaurant. And I loved it! I searched online for similar recipes. I found BLT soup recipes, but none that were like the one I had. So fine, I'll just try to figure it out myself.
The biggest problem I am having is it coming out too sweet from the soy milk. I think I'll try it with a different milk, just haven't decided which to try next.
Now, alot of the time I don't measure, and this is one of those times. So bear with me.

Ingrediants:

• 1 lb bacon
• 1/2 - 1 head lettuce, I like green leaf, but any will do
• 6 tomatoes, or use some grape, or roma, or use less with a larger tomato, only rule is it to use fresh, not canned
• bacon drippings
• parsley
• salt and pepper
• crushed red pepper
• flour
• milk alternative (I used soy, but as I said too sweet)

Fry bacon, reserve the drippings. Shred lettuce, and dice tomatoes.
Using bacon drippings and flour make a roux. Season with parsley, salt, pepper, and a small amount of crushed red pepper. Add milk. Simmer, until milk begins to thicken a bit.
Add bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes. Cook for awhile. It can be ready in 5 minutes, or hold at a low temp for an hour.

Enjoy.!