Stuffed Peppers

Last week I decided to surprise my husband with these stuffed bell peppers.
I found a pack of six for five bucks at costco that came with two of each color but green. Now normally I can't stand bell peppers myself, but I knew my husband loved them. He had a pretty bad day at work and needed some cheering up.

The recipe like many of mine I just developed myself as I went along. The results were fantastic, although I have to say we all agreed that the orange peppers tasted best with the filling.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Ing.
6 whole bell peppers (any color you desire)
1/2 lb of ground beef.
1/2 onion
1 jalapeno pepper
1 cup of rice
two small cans of tomato sauce (or one can of marinara sauce)
lots of shredded cheddar cheese
1 clove of garlic (or you can use some garlic powder)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons oregano
1 tsp of basil
salt and pepper

Instructions
1. chop up the onion, and garlic finely. Also take the inside seeds out of the jalapeno and chop up finely. Put all these into a pan with ground beef on medium heat to brown. I also added some salt and pepper.

2. Cut off the top of the bell peppers. Use a spoon to scoop out all the insides. Place them in a glass pan. Sprinkle a good portion of cheddar cheese into the bottoms of each pepper.

3. When beef and vegi's are browned add the 1 cup of rice and 1/2 cup of water to the pan and cover with lid.

4. Pour the contents of the tomato sauce cans into a bowl. add 1 1/2 tablespoons oregano and 1 tsp of basil to the tomato sauce. Mix well and then add to the rice ground beef mixture. Make sure to stir often mixing the ingredients so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

5. Once the rice mixture is cooked and the rice is the right texture take off the heat and sprinkle lots of cheddar cheese onto the filling and then mix it in.

6. Set the oven to preheat to 350 degrees. Fill each pepper to the top with the filling. Once all the peppers are full put more cheese on top and if you like put the little tops back on. Add another cup of water into the pan with the peppers. Place in the oven and bake for 45- 50 minutes.

These are a major hit, and especially tasted good with orange bell peppers.