Unstuffed Green Peppers

This recipe is just like stuffed green peppers, but even better! Make sure you bake it for at least an hour to make sure that the rice gets cooked thoroughly. The extra juice from the petite tomatoes makes this recipe not need extra water. If you want to make it spicy, you can add some crushed red peppers to the meat mixture. You can also choose to use any bell peppers that you like, they do not have to be green. This can also be made the day before and left in fridge until ready to bake.

Ingredients

• 2-3 large green peppers (depending on your liking)
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28-ounce can tomatoes, diced
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup long grain rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Cut off the tops of green peppers; discard seeds and membranes. Cut each pepper into 4-6 chunks, depending on the size of the pepper.
2. Boil water, and place peppers carefully into water for about 2 minutes, then remove and place in colander to cool and drain excess water.
3. In a deep cast iron skillet, cook onions and garlic with ground beef and rice, then drain once you can no longer see pink.
4. Add beef and rice mixture back to pan and add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, worcestershire, and salt and pepper.
5. At this time add in 1/2 the cheese (any combination is fine) and the peppers and top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake at 350° F for about an hour, making sure the rice is completely cooked.