1st Day of School Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

Serves 4, plan for at least one pepper per person

1 lb ground beef, cooked

1 lb Italian sausage (or ground pork), cooked

1 cup cooked rice

4-6 bell peppers, tops removed

1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 egg

Handful of basil (fresh)

Handful of parsley (fresh)

3-10 cloves of garlic (I like to go crazy)

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

64 oz tomato sauce

Ghee or olive oil

Instructions

1. Cook all meat and rice fully. I season these both simply with garlic salt, black pepper, and herbs.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Add chopped onions to a skillet with olive oil or ghee. Cook at medium heat until translucent, fragrant, and soft, but not browned.

4. Pop your cleaned bell peppers in the microwave for 3-5 minutes to soften. If you prefer to avoid the microwave, you can bake the peppers for 15 minutes while you are prepping other ingredients.

5. Combine onion, meat, rice, fresh herbs, garlic, 1/4 cup parmesan, salt, pepper, paprika, and any other seasoning you favor in a large bowl. Since this is fully cooked, feel free to taste the mixture to assure it is properly seasoned. Once you are good with the flavor, mix in one egg and ~ 1/3 cup of your tomato sauce. The mixture should have sauce throughout, but should not be soupy at all.

6. Add the meat mixture to softened peppers.

7. Add tomato sauce, the remaining parmesan, fresh herbs, and garlic to a deep baking dish or oven safe pot and season heavily. *Avoid using a Dutch oven / cast iron as it will burn the tomato sauce and ruin the flavor* (perfect time for a Caraway pot)

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 2-3 hours on the top rack. If you opt for an oven safe pot, you can also simmer (covered) for 30 minutes, then transfer to the oven to expedite the process a bit. Check on this every 30 minutes. If you ever feel like the sauce or bottoms of the peppers are burning, reduce your oven temperature to 300 degrees.

9. Serve over garlic + herb mashed potatoes and enjoy all week!