Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

2 large green peppers, cut in half, top to bottom, cored, tops off
1/2 lb. (or 2 large hamburger's worth) of either ground beef or ground pork
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/3 onion, diced fine
1/3 cup cooked white rice
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
12 oz. can of plain tomato sauce
1 can of water


Instructions:

1.  Cut peppers in half from top to bottom. Don't even bother removing the tops.  Once you have them cut, take your hand, grab the core from the inside of the pepper, and just pull it out with your fingers, right to the top.  The top should come off with the core. Voila!

Exhibit A: The peppers. This is how you slice them in half. Don't worry about the tops and cores. Just pull them right out with your fingers! Use a smaller paring knife for additional white core cleanup in each pepper half.

2.  In a large bowl, mix the ground beef (or pork if you want to shake things up a bit), onion, salt, pepper, paprika, and rice with your hands until everything is evenly distributed.  (This is the messy part.  If you're not into it, ask a child to volunteer.  They like the squishy feeling.)

Exhibit B: The mead mixture when it's all combined with the spices and onion.

3.  Stuff the pepper halves with the meat mixture.  Pack it in tightly.  You don't want to over stuff them. This is enough to stuff each pepper adequately.

4.  Place the stuffed peppers in a crock pot so the stuffing doesn't fall out of the peppers.  This requires some layering unless you have the world's largest crock pot.  You want to make sure every pepper gets some tomato sauce on it before you start the cooking process, so pour 1/2 the tomato sauce over the peppers on the bottom of the pot.  Layer  more peppers on top; then pour the remaining sauce over the peppers and you also want some sauce to be at the bottom of the pot, too.

5.  Pour a can of water into the crock pot.  Add the pinch of sugar if you're using it.  Yes, this really is enough water.  We're making stuffed peppers here, not stuffed pepper soup.

The stuffed peppers all snuggly in the crockpot just before I covered them with the lid and let them cook for 6 hours.

6.  Cook covered for 4 hours on high, or 6 - 7 hours on low. 


Special Notes:

This makes enough for 2 people.  Double the recipe for 4 people.

If you don't have a crock pot, then you can bake them in the oven at 350° for 1  1/2 hours until the peppers are soft.  (They get softer in the crock pot, though.)  I don't recommend making these stove top because they can burn on the bottom, but if you're up for a challenge, it's low heat for about 1 1/2 hours on the stove top that will be these done, but you'll have to try to move those peppers on the bottom of the pot around a little so they don't stick and burn.