Italian Stuffed Peppers

This recipe is one of Michael's favorites. I didn't realize how cumbersome it was until I tried making it today.

Here's how you make it

First off you want to make a tomato sauce. Which is easy!! Really, if I can do it anyone can. Anyway, here's how I make my sauce.

-Saute 1 small onion in olive oil (you can add more or less if to taste) Salt the onion lightly

-After your onion has had about 7 minutes on a low heat, cut one clove of garlic into thin pieces. put into pot with onions *Important!!!! make sure that the garlic does not burn! If it burns your entire sauce will taste like burnt garlic!

-Once the garlic has started to brown lightly add a small amount approx 3T of tomato paste Stir tomato paste in with onions and garlic.

-Optional step: pour in about 1/4 cup red wine after stirring in the paste & allowing it to brown slightly. This "deglazes" the pot and makes it easier to clean later

-Now it is time to put tomatoes in. During the summer months when Debbie & Joe give us tomatoes we use their fresh plum style tomatoes. However, most of the time we use Private Selection canned tomatoes. You can get whole ones, crushed, or pureed. Just make sure they are skinless.

-Typically I use 1 can pureed and 2 or 3 cans crushed. Dump tomatoes into pot!

- At this point the hard work is done. Just add about 2t or basil to sauce, turn on low heat, place the lid on your sauce and stir ever 10-15 minutes



Now for the peppers!

Hollow out peppers (I pre-check my sauce pot to see how many I can fit in it) Be sure to get all of the seeds out as well as the little side ridge things.

-Mix bread crumbs (Again we make our own with cheese, garlic, dehydrated bread, and black pepper, but any will do) and raw ground beef. There should be more crumbs than meat!

-Once the peppers are stuffed, place them into a skillet and brown the sides of the peppers.

-After all sides are browned, place peppers into sauce. Let them sit in the sauce for several hours stirring every 15 minutes.

-Serve sauce & peppers with pasta of your choice!

Total cook time is approx 3-4 hours, but if you have no job and nothing big going on, it passes the time!