Classic Stuffed Peppers

I have mentioned before that my mother is not that great a cook. She would occasionally make stuffed peppers as my dad enjoys them. But, she would use peppers for all the filling. She would mash the filling into a pie tin and bake it that way. The end result would be an overcooked dry meat muffin. Not very appealing. She didn’t use peppers because she absolutely hates vegetables. I mean, almost all vegetables. We had corn, green beans and peas - from a can - and that was it.

I am so glad I learned that vegetables were indeed not disgusting, as I was raised to believe. And why have helped our daughter have a much healthier view of vegetables - I don’t think there is one she won’t eat.

I did use mostly green peppers for the dish. I had one yellow that was the perfect shape for a stuffed pepper, so I used that too. I do find that the colorful peppers cook nicer than the green. This recipe was no different. The yellow pepper was considerably soften then the green.

The filling was nice. It needed more salt though. You would think that 1 teaspoon of salt would have been enough, but alas, the meat tasted under seasoned.

For the meat sauce I used A1. It gave the filling an interesting flavor. I’m sure that flavor would change depending on which sauce you used.

And of course, since it is a Mid Century recipe - it had buttered crumbs on top. I didn’t mind them. They gave the tops a bit of crunch.

Overall a nice recipe. Not the best stuffed peppers I have ever had, but certainly not the worse.

STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

4 Large Bell Peppers

1/2 Pound Hamburger

1/4 Cup Minced Onion

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Pepper

1/4 Teaspoon Sage

2 Cups Cooked Rice

1 1/4 Cups Diced Tomatoes

1 1/2 Teaspoons Bottle Meat Sauce

Bread Crumbs

Butter

Cut tops from peppers and remove seeds. Cover with boiling salted water and simmer for 5 minutes. Brown hamburger and onion until there is no more red. Add salt, pepper, sage, rice, tomatoes and meat sauce. Stuff peppers with mixture, top with bread crumbs and dot with butter. bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.