Stuffed Peppers a la Greta

Growing up, we never had fancy dinners at home (or in restaurants, in fact), but we always had certain meals my mom made that were in the regular rotation and became favorites. A few that come to mind: chicken and rice, fried pork chops with applesauce, spaghetti and sausage, lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, and stuffed peppers. Lots of good, hearty comfort food.

It's taken me way too many years, but I've slowly been developing some of my own meals that my own family has (mostly) come to enjoy. Crock pot turkey chili (thanks Jodi!) and turkey lasagna are at the top of the list. More recently, I decided it was time to learn how to make my mom's stuffed peppers. After experimenting a couple of times with the recipe (and learning that leaner meat makes it drier and takes away from the taste), I finally feel like I have a winner. Anything I can actually get Lauren to eat passes the test, and this she will eat (although she has yet to try the green pepper).

So, for posterity's sake (and should Lauren ever decide to consult this blog when she's older for things she ate as a child when deciding what to feed her family), I decided to document my mom's recipe for stuffed peppers right here.

Stuffed Peppers A La Greta:

Serves 4

1 lb lean ground beef (15% fat works well)
1 lb ground pork (do not use extra lean, which is all I could find the first couple of times I made it - had to go to Gelson's or Whole Foods to get pork with a little more fat in it) (also, for those who don't eat pork, my mom says ground turkey also works very well)
1 egg
1 cup cooked white rice (I bet brown rice would also work)
4 large green peppers
1 can tomato soup
1 large bottle or can tomato juice
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and sugar for seasoning

Here's all of the ingredients (except for the sugar, plus I used a second bottle of tomato juice the same size as in the pic).



Cut tops off of peppers and clean the insides out (take out the guts!).



Soak cleaned peppers in hot water in the sink for about 20 minutes.



While peppers are soaking, cook the rice (I used rice that took about 15 min to boil in a bag, but microwave rice would also work). Let rice cool for a few minutes so you don't burn your fingers when mixing with the meat.

In a large bowl, mix together the beef, pork, egg and rice.

Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste (I'm always afraid to over salt, but think I could even go a little heavier with it).


[I know, looks like dog food, but please hang in there, it gets better!]

Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture. With decent sized peppers, I still had enough meat leftover to make 2 large meatballs.



In a large pot on the stove put in the tomato soup and tomato juice - stir together and add approx. 2 teaspoons of sugar.



Put flame on medium low and put the stuffed peppers and meatballs in the pot.

Cover and let cook slowly for approximately 2 hours - make sure it is only at a slow boil and is not boiling rapidly.

When it is done, the peppers will be very soft (you can pretty much slice them with a fork). You can cut into the meat in one of the peppers to see if it is done. This is what it looks like finished in the pot.



When ready to serve, put one stuffed pepper on each plate and be sure to surround with plenty of sauce. For those eating bread, some crusty sourdough to soak up the sauce adds just the right touch (not to mention a nice glass of Cabernet or Merlot). Add a ravenous 5-year-old, and you're good to go!