Much Harder in My Head

I find it so funny when I am convinced I could never make something b/c it's too complicated, involved, or down right difficult. And I have to admit the more I cook the more I find myself saying "if you can make this, you can make____, fill in the blank. ( I mean 8 years ago when we were first married, I would have never attempted a potato galette!) Plus, I am very lucky that I have 2 "boys" in my house that are willing to eat my experiments, and are very quick to tell me how good they are, even when I know they are being kind. So when I was thinking of "new" things to make, I did what I do a lot of times, I thought back to when I was growing up and things I loved to eat, but haven't had in many years. One of those such meals was stuffed peppers. My Grammy used to make them for us every time they visited and I loved them. And the only ones I've had since have been out of the frozen food section, which weren't bad per say, but they weren't homemade. So while I had always thought they were so involved, and would be too time consuming, I was surprised to find out just how easy they are. I'm sure there are ones out there, that are indeed a little more involved, but the recipe I found on The Food Channel website look exactly as I remember and only took about 15 minutes out of my life! So next time you think a recipe is too hard for you, remember me and my peppers!!!

Easy Beef Stuffed Peppers

1 lb. ground beef
4 medium green, red or yellow bell peppers
3/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. uncooked rice
3 TBS ketchup, divided
1 tsp. oregano, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 14.5 oz. Italian-style stewed tomatoes, drained

Cut tops off peppers; remove seeds and membrane. Combine ground beef, onion, rice, 2 TBS ketchup, 1/2 tsp oregano, salt and pepper. Mix lightly, but well. Spoon equal amount of beef mixture into each pepper. Place in 8--inch square baking dish. Combine tomatoes, remaining ketchup and oregano; pour over stuffed peppers. Cover tightly w/ foil. Bake @ 350º for 1 1/2 hours.

Green Pepper