Italian Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers were a dinner staple in my house growing up. They are an easy meal that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients and gets everything (veggie, starch and protein) all in one delicious package. When I started making them, hubby complained that they needed something else…like CHEESE (hey, we live in Wisconsin!). I modified my mom’s recipe a little to come up with this and they are delicious and easy!

Italian Stuffed Peppers

5-6 bell peppers (I use yellow, you can use whatever you like)

1 lb ground beef

1 c cooked rice

2 cans (14.5 oz) tomato sauce

½ med onion, chopped small

4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1.5 c Italian blend shredded cheese (whatever your grocery store has)

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut the top of the peppers and remove seeds. Set aside.

Brown ground beef, drain and set aside. Saute onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic at the end and let soften briefly. Add browned beef and rice to mixture and stir to combine. Add 2/3-3/4 of a can of tomato sauce (until its well combined and wet, but not soupy). Add Italian blend cheese and mix well.

Scoop filling into peppers and place in a baking dish. Pour remaining tomato sauce (1 full can and ¼ of the used can) over the top of the peppers and into the baking dish.

Bake peppers until soft, about 1 ¼  hours. Remove from oven and top with mozzarella cheese and bake until cheese is melted. Serve over rice.