Sharing Recipes--Stuffed Peppers

Frugalistas eat well because they cook from scratch. When I visited my mother during the holidays, we decided to resurrect and revamp one of her tried and true recipes--stuffed peppers. We made a few changes and treated the rest of the family to stuffed red peppers on Boxing Day. This recipe can be prepared 1-2 days earlier and then quickly heated in the oven or microwave.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
6 medium red or green peppers
1 chopped onion
butter
1 eggplant (peeled and cut up)
2 eggs
2 cups grated cheese
1 bread slice (dipped in milk)
1 cup bread crumbs
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Onion Salt
4-5 tbsp tomato sauce
Additional tomato sauce (optional)

Procedure

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Parboil the peppers in boiling, salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and let cool.
• Heat butter and onions in a large frying pan.
• Add the ground beef and cook until brown. Drain and place in a bowl. Save the butter/onion mixture.
• Parboil eggplant in boiling water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the water.
• Saute the eggplant in the butter/onion mixture.
• Add to the ground beef.
• Squeeze bread slice and cut up in small pieces. Add to mixtures.
• Add bread crumbs, grated cheese, salt, spices, and tomato sauce. Mix well.
• Fill the peppers and place on a greased tray.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Optional--After 20 minutes, you may wish to place a bit of tomato sauce on top of each pepper. Continue baking for 10 minutes.
  

Makes 12 stuffed peppers.