Carly's Stuffed Bell Peppers

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience."

-James Beard

It's been raining the last couple days, so I have been housebound... and a little bored. But it's not all that bad, because one of the things I enjoy the most about winter, and long weekends when it's raining, is spending time developing new recipes, or maybe even revisiting recipes I haven't made for a while. This weekend I made Stuffed Bell Peppers. This batch was a new take on an old recipe. Instead of using just plain tomato sauce, I tried using a tomato cream sauce, that had the added kick of sun-dried tomatoes. I think it turned out well. :) Here is the recipe, if you try it, let me know how it comes out.

Carly's Stuffed Bell Peppers

6-8 medium sized green, red and/or yellow bell peppers
2 lbs. ground beef
6-8 marinated sun-dried tomatoes
2 cups cooked plain white rice (cooked to pkg directions)
2 sm. cans tomato sauce
1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbs dried chopped onion
1sp. garlic powder

Directions...

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a heavy skillet, cook ground beef, seasoned with garlic powder, until no longer pink. Drain and set aside. Cook rice in medium sized pot, according to package directions. When rice is ready, transfer to a large mixing bowl and add in cheese, chopped onion, Parmesan cheese, and tomato sauce. Blend mixture well. Remove the sun-dried tomatoes and drain on a paper towel. Wash, and slice open bell peppers, saving the tops to the side. Fill each pepper with meat/cheese mixture. Put one, drained, sun-dried tomato on the top of each bell pepper, after it's filled, and press down gently. Replace the bell pepper tops, and place in a medium to large baking dish, allowing room around each pepper. Pour Classico sauce around each pepper, and drizzle some on top. Cook in 375 oven for 45-60 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serves 4-6. Enjoy!

Note: If you can purchase red, green and red peppers, it tastes the same, and it makes a nice presentation. :)

-OndineMonet
Berkeley, California
February 9, 2007
Morning