Anita's Creamy Stuffed Peppers

So, it has been a long while since I last posted, but I had a request for this recipe from a college friend. I would like to start off by reminding everyone that when I create a new recipe I often don't know the exact measurements of the ingredients. So, please taste test before serving!

Alright, let's get to it!

Ingredients:

1 lb. Ground Beef (or 1/2lb. beef & 1/2lb. ground pork or pork sausage)

1/2 of a lg. onion, chopped small

1 Bell Pepper per person any color (cut tops off, clean out inside, and dice excess pepper around stems)

4-5 Mushrooms, diced

1 T Italian seasoning, dried (I used fresh herbs I chopped & used 2 T of them)

2 t Cumin Powder

2 t Chili Powder

1 T Worcestershire sauce

2 t Liquid Smoke

1 can Mexican Rotel

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 1/2 C Orzo or Stelle or any really small pasta

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown meat. Drain off the fat. Add onion, extra pepper, all seasonings, Worcestershire sauce, and Liquid Smoke. Cook for about 5 mins. Add Rotel, soup, and pasta. You may need to add a little water at this point, but not too much. (Also, I would use water instead of cream, milk, or some other dairy product, so it doesn't separate on you.) Cook the pasta for 4 mins. Line the bottom of a baking dish with some of the meat & soup mixture. Place cleaned out peppers on top of mixture. Spoon mixture into the peppers until full. Then fill in around peppers with remaining mixture. (I baked these at 350 for a couple of hours, but sometimes they didn't cook well. So, I baked them at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time, but it didn't have the soup in it.) Bake in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour or until peppers are soft in a covered dish. (I had pretty large peppers when I cooked these, so if you have smaller ones check them at 45 mins.) then, we uncover it, sprinkle with cheese, and put it back into the oven to melt the cheese for about 10 mins.

So, there it is. I hope the extra explanations are helpful and not disracting. :) Let me know how yours turns out, and we'll try to work out any problems you run into. Also, if your kids are like mine and they hate bell pepper don't make them a special meal. My girls refuse to eat the peppers, but they loved the mixture that we put in the pan outside the peppers. In fact, I made this the other day without the soup because I'm not tolerating creamy sauces at the moment, they were very disappointed with this meal. Usually, when I've used the soup we have no left overs of this meal.

Enjoy!