Donna's Stuffed Peppers

This original recipe is from my mother-in-law Donna. I kept hearing about her "famous" stuffed peppers from my husband so I asked for the recipe. He must have been such a good little eater because I know when I was a kid faced with the dinner choice of stuffed peppers...I was not so receptive to the idea. What a picky little brat I was! But now that I'm older and wiser, this is one of my favorite dishes. The only thing I really changed was that she uses hamburger meat and I used Italian sausage instead, I think it has a little more flavor, plus I'm not a big red-meat fan. This recipe is delicious and produces a lot of leftovers so it's great to make on a Sunday and eat all week long!

Ingredients:

- 3 peppers, cut lengthwise and seeded
- 16 oz. of Italian sausage
- 1 medium-sized onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 cup rice
- 1 large can of tomato sauce
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella

1. Start the rice by following your favorite boxed-rice recipe. Mine says add 1 cup rice with 2 ¼ cups water in a medium pan and when it starts boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes.

2. In a medium sauté pan, add Italian sausage and onions. Cook until the sausage has almost lost its pink color and then add in the garlic. Cook until sausage is finished and put the sausage mixture in a large bowl.

3. Once you have halved and seeded the peppers, add them to a large pot of boiling water. Boil for about 5 minutes and then place the peppers in a casserole dish cut-side up.

4. Once the rice is finished, add the cooked rice to the bowl with the sausage mixture. Add 1 ½ cups of the tomato sauce and ½ cup of the mozzarella cheese and mix.

5. Spoon the mixture into the open peppers. If there is any leftover mixture, add it to the bottom of the pan. Take remaining tomato sauce from the can and pour it all around the peppers in the bottom of the pan.

6. Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Take the peppers out and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on top. Place back in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted.

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