Stuffed Pepper Soup

Weekend before last, I was out in the garden, and I picked a peck of peppers...

And, I got busy with my daughter and grandon's visit, and promptly forgot about them.

And then today dawned blustery, stormy, cloudy.  And it dawned on me then that it was a perfectly perfect pepper soup day.

Stuffed pepper soup, to be exact, especially since I was passing those peppers each time I left the house and came back in...they were really starting to bug me!

But there were plenty!  I could make a batch of soup and MORE could be chopped and kept for the freezer. They can be used in the soup this winter!  So, measured out in two cup batches, I can pull a bag out and pop them in the soup pot.

The soup is done, and I buttered a piece of brown bread and ate a bowl that was steaming hot for lunch.

YUM!

And after lunch, I got busy and chopped those peppers for the freezer with my trusty little friend, the "Vidalia CHOP WIZARD".

This one is from Bed, Bath and Beyond, and I paid around $20 and used my coupon, but you can get a knock-off brand from Wal-Mart for right around $10.

It has been a huge help to me in my chopping for canning and freezing from the garden.  It's an invaluable tool on those long salsa-making days in late summer.  There is a small and a large chop, I use the larger one the most.  All your peppers and onions and everything for the soup (or salsa or whatever) come out perfectly uniform.  (And cleanup is easy!) 

And....would you like the recipe for "STUFFED PEPPER SOUP"?

It's so full of vegetables and all good things, and I used my canned tomatoes, but if you don't have those, don't worry.

Here you go...

Stuffed Pepper Soup

1 c. chopped onions

1/4 c. chopped celery (or more if you'd like)

1 clove garlic, minced

2 c. chopped green bell pepper 

(I used my reds, too)

2 T. Vegetable oil

1/2 lb. browned lean ground beef or ground venison (even better!)

One sixteen ounce can crushed tomatoes

1/2 c. tomato juice

1/4 c. uncooked long grain rice

3 c. water

2 T. chopped fresh parsley

2 t. sugar

1 t. salt

1 t. black pepper

1\4 t. ground cinnamon (optional)

Saute vegetables in oil just until tender, do not brown them -- just cook until tender.  Just under about ten minutes.  

Then stir in rice, tomatoes, juice, water, parsley, sugar, salt, and pepper and browned meat.  

Cover and simmer approximately 45 minutes and adjust liquid if necessary, until rice is fully cooked.

It's a great sense of accomplishment when you can put away items from your garden to use in the wintertime...on blustery snowy days.

ENJOY!!

(And I'll try not to let those red and green peppers remind me that Christmas is only two months away!)