Stuffed Pepper Soup

By lisapearce

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef (I used 93% lean)
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans petite diced tomatoes
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 1 (32 oz) carton beef broth
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 cup uncooked long grain white (or brown) rice
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• Cheddar or mozzarella cheese, for serving (optional, and I didn’t think it needed it)
• Additional Salt and pepper to taste

Details

Adapted from tiphero.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and ground beef and break the meat apart with a wooden spoon. Cook until browned and mostly cooked through, about five minutes.
2. Add the onion, bell peppers and garlic and sauté until tender, about five more minutes.
3. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. While the soup is simmering, cook the rice according to the package directions. (I used 1 cup long grain white rice, 2 cups water and 1 tsp kosher salt, brought to a boil in a medium saucepan then turn heat to low and cook covered for 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and there’s no water left in the pan.)
5. Stir the parsley into the soup. To serve, ladle soup then divide the rice among each serving bowl. Serves 4-6 as a main dish

*It’s really good if you add some crushed red pepper flakes too.

*If you’re wondering why you can’t just cook the rice directly in the soup instead of dirtying another pot, I wouldn’t recommend it unless the soup will be eaten immediately. Rice (and pasta too!) will keep absorbing liquid if given the opportunity, so leftovers would be mushy and too thick. Since I was just making this for 2, I packed the leftover soup and rice in different containers and reheated them separately the next day.