Emily Living and Laughing : Stuffed Peppers

I will try to make a recipe over and over again until I get it just the way I like it. This one I feel will always be a work in progress and that is okay. The first thing I noticed about cooking is we love food that triggers memories. I always try to sap recipes out of my mom because those tend to have the best memories for me. I am lucky enough to have her around to ask. I recommend if your mom or grandmother is still around you ask them now about the recipes you love. I sadly do not have my husband's mother to ask about his favorite things. This is one of the recipes I continuously try to make to how she did it for him. Ryan told me this time that it was the closest I have come to her stuffed peppers. I may season heavier than her but that was the ultimate compliment from him.

There are a ton of steps to making these so I broke it down in sections then all together for easier reading.

What you need~
1 pound hamburger meat
1 cup of rice (cooked)
1 (6 ounce) can of tomato paste
1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced roasted tomatoes
1 cup of tomato juice (OR) water
6 green peppers with tops removed
Green pepper tops diced
1 large yellow onion diced
1 tablespoon of garlic minced
Worchester to taste
Dash of smoked paprika
Everglades Seasoning to taste
Mrs. Dash to taste

Start by setting your oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepping the peppers:
Cut and gut your peppers. Then put your peppers in a stock pot with just enough water to cover them bring them to a boil. Only let them boil for about two minutes before removing from water. Totally process takes about 15 minutes. Place them in a tall oven safe dish.

Prepping the mixture:
Make your rice according to directions on the package . I used a brown and wild rice mix. Took about 15 minutes to make. While the rice is cooking get your onions, garlic and diced pepper tops cooking down in a skillet. I cooked them on medium heat for about 5 minutes then added the hamburger meat. Once the meat was almost done I added the tomato paste and diced tomatoes. While that is cooking down I added some Worchester sauce. Once the rice is done add to this mixture with the tomatoe OR water mixture. Cook down a bit.

HINTS on seasoning: I will forever say this till the day I die. I prefer to not tell you how much seasoning to put in something unless it is baking. The reason for this is my palate may be completely different than yours. I also season after I add a new item into the mixture. This

allows each piece of onion and each piece of meat to be evenly coated. On any of my recipes you can modify the seasoning to your taste. My rule of thumb with everything (besides salt) is that if you look at something and think it is too much seasoning. Add a little more.

Stuff those peppers!
Put your mixture in the peppers first. Then place the remaining mix around the peppers. I topped with a little mozzarella and parmesan which you do not have to do. Cook covered for 10 minutes and uncovered for 15 more minutes.