Scrumptious Sunday: Stuffed Peppers

I actually made this recipe last week, but didn't have any spare time to write about it until today. Last weekend, Hubby decided he was really in the mood for stuffed peppers. I don't have a single recipe in any of my many cookbooks for stuffed peppers! Can you believe it? They all have stuffed cabbage rolls covered, but good luck finding stuffed peppers! My mom makes this recipe so I called her for hers. She didn't seem to have one. Not sure how that works. Finally, I searched online and finally found one that seemed doable on allrecipes.com. I moderated it. My version is listed here.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't so sure about this recipe. I was really getting worried as I was making it. The consistency was not what I expected. It does take awhile to get to the right thickness. This is probably why it cooks for an hour on the stove before going into the oven. In the end, it turned out to be a winner! For more Scrumptious Sunday, visit Mercedes Rocks: a place for memes!

Stuffed Peppers


Ingredients:
6 large green yellow, green, or red bell peppers
1 pound ground sausage beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 (10.75 oz) cans tomato soup
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
2 2/3 cups water
1 T chili powder
1 T garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
3 cups uncooked instant rice

Directions:
1. Slice tops off of green peppers; remove seeds and membranes, and rinse well. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add peppers and cook for 15 minutes, or until tender-crisp.
2. Place sausage beef and onions in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Reduce heat to medium and stir in tomato soup, water, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and half can of tomato sauce; bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to low, stir in 3/4 of cheese and simmer for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350º F.
4. Prepare instant rice according to package instructions. Fluff with a fork and then stir into tomato mixture. Simmer for 30 minutes*. (*I take this to mean the second half of the hour it is already set to cook).
5. Spoon rice mixture into peppers. If there is excess, spoon it into baking pan around the peppers creating a sauce. Drizzle remaining tomato sauce over the peppers as well.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on peppers and place under broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly.