STUFFED PEPPER SOUP

I have made this before but it was for a canning recipe.  It turned out great when canned but I had some peppers that needed to be used up before the wilted and turned bad.  Goes back to trying to use stuff we have on hand and use meat out of the freezers.  

Stuffed peppers were something I grew up hating!  I just said that but do not allow that to turn you off to this post. As an adult, I love a good stuffed pepper.  One of my favorite ways to eat them is Mexican style.  

I think stuffed peppers is a type of comfort food to warm the bones.  Talking about warming your bones, soup is another way to do that.  I love soup of almost any kind, especially in the winter time.  With that said, is it not a good idea to combine the two and have them in one meal?  

I think this soup is better if you use a variety of color with your bell peppers.  I used a yellow, orange, and a green bell pepper.  

Chop up a medium sized onion.

Chop 3 bell peppers.

Heat your skillet and once hot add olive oil along with the peppers and onions.   I think cooking them a bit prior to starting the soup gives it much more flavor.  

I chose to make this in the crockpot because I had lots to do yesterday but you can do this on the stove top if you wish.

Brown ground beef.  Season with thyme, marjoram, garlic, and Italian seasonings.  Drain beef and add in with the peppers and onions.

I used home canned tomato juice, a jar of home canned marinara and some freshly made venison stock.  You can substitute venison stock for beef stock.

I added this all into my crockpot and let it cook all day.  Again you can do this on the stove top.  You just need to sit and cook for a while because the slower the better. 

I keep on adding seasonings mentioned above per my taste. 

STUFFED PEPPER SOUP

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound of ground beef
• 3 bell peppers, use a variety of colors -chop
• 1 diced onion 
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon marjoram 
• 1-quart tomato juice
• 32 ounces beef or venison stock
• 16 oz marinara
• 3 cups cooked rice 

Directions

• Chop peppers and onions.  Mince garlic.
• Heat a large skillet.  Once hot add olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)
• Add peppers and onions to hot skillet.  Cook for 5 minutes then add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.  Add peppers to a pot or your crockpot.  
• Put ground beef into the skillet and cook until no longer pink.  Add Italian seasoning, thyme, marjoram as you cook.  
• Once cone drain and place with your pepper and onion mixture.
• Add tomato juice, stock, and marinara and allow to cook low and slow for several hours.
• Make rice per package directions.
• Do not add rice to the soup.  Add it to your bowl and then add the soup into the bowl.  

I made the mistake of adding the rice at the end directly into the soup, next time I will have rice on the side to add to the soup per bowl.  

The above measurements are a starting point when it comes to the seasonings.  I used per my taste when seasoning the ground beef and I also added more to my crockpot as it was cooking.  

This really made a tasty warm meal.  I hope you will give it a try.  

ENJOY!