Well, I made the mistake of putting my crock pot away for the summer. Mainly to just save some counter space, but wow, am I bored of hot dogs and burgers! Now that fall is here, I’ve given it a good cleaning and set up my first meal for Fall 2013: a little bit of a stuffed pepper experiment! I’ve never made this before, so I’m not sure quite what to expect. Update coming later!

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground beef (I used 85% lean)
• 1 16oz can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Your favorite blend of spices: I went “Italian” and thew in some oregano, garlic, and basil. Alternately, you can go “Mexican” and load up on a chili pepper mix.
• 4 bell peppers (any color), tops off and cleaned out
• 1/4 C bread crumbs (or cooked rice)
• 2 T grated parmesan cheese

How to:

• In a large skillet, cook the meat until just barely pink. Add your onion to the meat and cook until translucent. Add your spices and then the can of tomatoes (juice included).
• Remove from heat and stir in your bread crumbs. Normally, I would use cooked rice here, but I had none so I improvised. Once combined, stir in parmesan.
• Place balls of rolled up aluminum in the bottom of the crock pot. This will keep the peppers above the base of the pot to prevent burning, and keep them out of the liquid that will accumulate in the pot as it cooks.
• Stand up each pepper and fill with the meat mixture.
• Pour about 1 cup of water into the bottom of the pot
• Cover and cook on low, 6-8hrs