Here you go, Lisa -- my version of mom's recipe for stuffed peppers. I used to think it was
mom's recipe, but the more I compare notes with her, the more obvious it becomes that I have
altered it over the years.
Start with the biggest pot you have and add about 10 cups
of water (or more, not less). This pot came from Mrs. Poghee
who was an 80-year-old, Eastern European lady who lived
next to us when I was a kid in 1955. You should be so lucky
to have such a pot.
Here are the ingredients (plus two eggs and salt/pepper and
a second onion that I forgot to put in the picture) -- two pounds
of ground meat (or ground chuck or whatever), four large
green peppers, instant rice, two onions, a stick of celery, a
small can of tomato sauce and two 14 oz. cans of diced
tomatoes (plus two eggs, and salt/pepper not pictured here).
Dice one onion and one stalk of celery and add to the water.
Add the can of tomato sauce and two cans of diced tomatoes.
Mom swears that she didn't use all of this stuff -- she says
she used mostly plain water with salt and pepper. You could
try cutting back on some of these ingredients if you want. I
probably added stuff because the fun of cooking is cutting
things up and throwing them in the pot. Mom's broth did have
a dominant flavor of green pepper that I have never been able
to match -- maybe because I add too many other ingredients?
Make the filling by mixing together two pounds of ground meat,
almost two cups of cooked rice, two eggs, some salt and pepper,
and a second diced onion.
Here's the stuffing mixture and four large peppers cut in half.
If your peppers are smaller, you might need a fifth one. Mom
swears that she didn't cut the peppers in half, but, instead,
cut the tops off and stuffed them whole. Try it either way.
Stuff the peppers as above (or like mom says she did). And
here's a little trick I made up ... (in the bowl above) ...
... dice some green pepper and also save some of the meat
mixture. Crumble the meat and add it, along with the diced
pepper, to the broth. That will give your broth some good
substance (when the peppers are all eaten, you might have
broth left over and you can use it for something such as a
topping for a baked potato, or just eat it as soup).
You can also add a little rice to the broth -- not much more
than a couple of tablespoons or it will suck up too much of
the juice.
Here are the stuffed peppers in the broth. Cover and simmer
on top of the stove for approximately two hours. (Might even
taste best as leftovers the following day). Serve the peppers
one at a time in a bowl of broth. (I just put this pot on the
stove -- I will add a photo of one serving as soon as the
peppers are ready to eat.)