Recipe Card #20: Ways With Peppers
Inspired by the book/film Julie & Julia, I’ve decided to work my way through one or more of my vintage cookbooks. But which one(s)? As I was rooting through the closet turned cookbook bookshelf, I came across a plastic orange box filled with Betty Crocker recipes that my grandmother gave to me when I was a teenager–the infamous 1971 Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library. As I perused through the cards, I came across “Ways with Peppers” under “Seasonal Favorites–Fall.” The stuffed peppers looked straighfoward and easy, so I gave it a try. My Honey loved it!
I chose two different sized peppers–two large and two small-medium sized from the farmer’s market but still had a lot of stuffing left over (which I turned into meatballs that were just “bleh”).
What you need:
Stuffed Green Peppers
3 Large green peppers
1/2 pound ground beef
1 cup dry bread crumbs (or cracker crumbs)
1 Tablespoon chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
Slice off cap of pepper
Heat oven to 350* F. Cut thin slice from stem end of each pepper. Remove all seeds and membranes. Wash inside and outside. Heat 1 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to boiling. Add peppers; cook 5 minutes and drain.
Boil for 5 minutes
Drain peppers
Mix remaining ingredients. Lightly stuff each pepper with 1/3 of the meat mixture. Stand peppers upright in ungreased baking dish, 8x8x2 inches. Cover; bake 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer. 2-3 servings.
Add remaining ingredients
Mix the ingredients thoroughly
- Gently stuff the peppers
My mother had one of those boxes. Wasn’t that sort of a collection the company offered? You bought the box and subscribed for the cards, which arrived monthly, as I recall. I’m not sure — this happened at Mother’s house when I was leaving for the working world. I wasn’t much impressed. I kept the box for a while and eventually let it go. (I say that — but one day I may unpack some boxes in the attic and come up with it!)
Anyway — stuffed green peppers, or, “stuffed monkey brains,” as Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs used to call them. Last year I posted a recipe for stuffed green peppers on my website at the request of my stepson. I’ve read many recipes for same, but the family favorite was this one from “Cooking with Soup: A Campbell Cookbook.” I can’t find a publication date in the book, but I found it in my husband’s kitchen when we married in 1975. My family liked the “smooth” flavor of tomato soup.
4 medium green peppers
1/2 lb ground beef
1/3 c chopped onions
1 T butter or margarine
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed tomato soup
2 c cooked rice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
Dash pepper
Remove tops and seeds from the peppers; cook in boiling salted water about 5 minutes; drain. Brown beef and cook onion in butter until tender; stir in 1/2 can soup and remaining ingredients. Spoon meat mixture into peppers; place in 1 1/2-qt casserole. Bake in a 375-degree oven 30 minutes. Heat remaining soup and serve over peppers. 4 servings.
When I asked my mother to share her recipe for stuffed green peppers, she looked at me incredulously and said, “I just make them.” So, I had to experiment on my own. Like you, I found the mixture to be a little bland without the help of the green peppers. I like to just spoon any extra meat mixture into the casserole, and I usually just add all the soup to the meat mixture. My husband loves Worcestershire sauce, so I increase that amount by quite a bit. I also cover the peppers with cheese slices while they’re baking. Oh — and sometimes I add canned corn. I know my mother did.
Well, this is a busy day and you’ve succeeded in distracting me. The newlyweds (daughter and husband) come tonight for a picnic reception tomorrow. My nephew is grilling kabobs for us.
[...] you remember, I shared with you back in September that I had come across the orange 1971 Betty Crocker Recipe Box that my grandmother had given to me. My local supermarket was having a sale on pork products so I decided to give the “Pork [...]