Stuffed Pepper Soup

I remember the first time I had stuffed green pepper soup.  It was at a local restaurant and when I saw it as a special I thought, now there's an idea!  I love stuffed peppers so the soup had to be good.  And it didn't disappoint.  That's when I started thinking how to go about making this delicious soup.  It wasn't that hard after I worked with it a little.  And the recipe below can be adjusted to your own tastes - maybe some ground turkey or lamb instead of ground sirloin or maybe even nixing the meat altogether to make a delicious flavor filled vegetarian soup.  Sometimes I use venison burger when my husband has had a successful hunting season.  Manipulating a recipe to make it your own if often rewarding when you create a new spin on an old favorite.

Ingredients

1 lb ground sirloin

2 cups green pepper, diced (about 2 peppers depending on the size)

1 small onion, diced

2 cups of long grain rice, cooked (this is the cooked amount, not the dry amount which is normally 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups of beef broth

2 cups of tomatoes, diced

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I always lean towards healthy choice brand)

Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Start by preparing your rice.  You can use white rice in this recipe if you choose or if that's what you have on hand, I like the long grain wild rice in it for healthier eating.  In a large skillet, brown your meat, green peppers, onions and garlic (adding garlic about 1/2 way through the browning process) until meat is not pink and drain.  Once cooked through and drained, combine the rest of your ingredients in one soup pot and simmer for about 45 minutes on low heat.  This will allow the flavors to marry. 

Its a quick and easy recipe and if you make a lot of it, you can certainly freeze it and bring it out for an easy reheat on another day.