Cooking Stuffed Peppers

Last night I helped Mom make stuffed peppers. We decided on this big pot of comfort food for three reasons—First of all, our friend Arailya gave us a big bag of peppers from her garden so we needed to do something with them. Second, autumn decided to visit Sicily and the temperature dropped to 48° F and nothing warms the belly like a piping hot stuffed pepper. And finally, Dad is in Bahrain for three weeks so staying busy and making a mess of the kitchen helps to keep our minds off of missing him. This recipe is my Great-Great-Grandmother's. Aunt Patsy taught my mom how to make Gram McLaughlin’s stuffed peppers; last night my mom taught me and now I’m sharing the recipe with you.

Hmmm… Let’s see… the recipe calls for…

Gram McLaughlin’s Stuffed Peppers
Green bell peppers (about 2 per person)
Potatoes (about 2 per person)
2 15oz. cans tomato sauce
1 15oz. can tomato paste
1 lb ground beef
1 1b ground pork
1 egg
2 cups of bread crumbs
Salt & pepper

Cube potatoes and cover them with cold water in a large stock pot.
Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, and 2 cups of water.
In a large bowl, mix ground meat, egg, bread crumbs, 1 cup of water, and salt & pepper.
Cut tops off peppers and clean out the seeds before stuffing with meat.
Place the stuffed peppers on top of the potatoes.
Throw all the tops of the peppers in the pot for extra flavor.
You should have enough sauce to cover all the peppers, if not add some water.
Cover and cook on medium for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.