Stuffed Bell Peppers

Tonight's dinner is stuffed bell peppers.  I remember my mom used to make these all the time when I was a kid, and I liked them... however I never got the recipe from her.  I knew I wanted to make them, which is why I added them to my menu this week, so I searched for a recipe.  I do remember these tasting good, but a little bland, so I found a basic recipe and tweaked it to my liking (and ingredients).

I bought a bag of 6 large green bell peppers at Sam's Club, for a good price.  They were the perfect size for filling with deliciousness, and I will have plenty of peppers left over for other recipes this week.  Other than the peppers, I already had everything else on hand.

1lb ground beef (browned and seasoned)
2 cups cooked rice (I used Jasmine, as it is my favorite)- Brown rice would work good for this too!
2 cans of tomato sauce
1 can of Rotel tomatoes

I suck a preheating my oven, I always just turn it on, throw the food in and add a few extra minutes to make up for my lack of following directions.  I did manage to preheat my oven for this meal though, at 350.

While the oven pre-heated, I cleaned 2 of the bell peppers.  I cut the tops off and hollowed the center out, making sure to remove all of the seeds.  I placed these hollow side up in a small 9x9 baking dish that I sprayed with Pam to avoid the mess.

We like our food with a spicy kick... so I browned my lean ground beef and seasoned it with onion powder, adobo seasoning, Badia all purpose seasoning, cumin and red pepper flakes.

I cooked my Jasmine rice according to the directions (1 1/2 cup of water to 1 cup of rice).  I did this while browning the ground beef so that I wasn't waiting for anything.  The timing worked out well.

I drained the ground beef of any fat (there hardly was any), then added my rice to the skillet, the can of Rotel, and one can of tomato sauce.  I stirred everything together well, and added a couple of dashes of the Badia seasoning for good measure.

I scooped the mixture into each pepper, filling it to the top, generously.  With the second can of tomato sauce, I poured some over each filled pepper, and placed the baking dish in the oven to bake for 1 hour.  It did not take the entire second can of sauce, but as they bake, I may baste them with more.

They are in the oven now... so I hope they are tasty!  Everything smelled delicious!