Stuffed peppers

There were a lot of peppers sitting around, and I was inspired to make stuffed peppers.  I don't think I've had stuffed peppers since my mom made them when I was a child.  I looked at a lot of different recipes on the web.  It looks like there are 2 schools of thought on several issues.  There are those that cook the meat before they stuff the pepper, and those that cook the meat in the pepper.  There are those who blanch the pepper first, and those who let the pepper cook in the oven.  There are those who stuff the pepper standing upright, and those who cut the pepper in half and stuff  each half.  There are those who use cheese, and those who do not.  So many decisions. I experimented  with several options, and came up with a process I really like.

Nearly all of the recipes used canned tomatoes.  Why do they do that?  Peppers and tomatoes are in season at the same time.  It seems wrong to open a can of tomatoes when there are dozens of ripe tomatoes on the vine.

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

 4 bell peppers (any color you like)

 1 medium onion, chopped

 3 large tomatoes (or you can use home-canned, in a pinch)

 1 stalk celery (or chard!), chopped

 1 # ground beef (or bison, or turkey,  or veggie crumbles, whatever your preference)

 1 cup rice, cooked

 1/2 tsp oregano

 1 Tbs.fresh basil, minced, or 1 tsp. dried

Method:.
1. Cut 4 peppers in half from top to bottom. Remove the stem, seeds, and the white membranes.
2. Drop the pepper halves in a pot of boiling water, and blanch them for 5 minutes. Remove peppers from hot water and place cut side up in an oblong casserole dish.
3. Saute the onion, celery, and tomatoes chopped, with 1 pound of ground beef.
4. When the vegetables are soft and the beef is cooked, add 1 cup cooked rice, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp chopped fresh basil, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Fill the peppers with the beef and rice mixture.
6. Bake the peppers for 20 minutes at 375.

Here's a tip.  If you want to peel the tomatoes, you can drop them into the boiling water with the peppers for a minute.  Then the skins will come right off.

This recipe is one of the reasons we look forward to ripe peppers.