Stuffed Banana Peppers

Another Summer delicacy of ours is stuffed banana peppers. Last year was our first year growing banana peppers and Todd came across a recipe for stuffed banana peppers. Oh what a treat they were. We definitely had to include banana peppers as a regular in our garden because nothing is better then fresh banana peppers stuffed.

Ingredients

1 pound ground sausage
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice 1 cup water 6 large/medium bell peppers
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
shredded cheese to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.
3. Slice down the banana pepper, remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the banana peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.
4. In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.
5. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender. The last 15 minutes top the peppers with shredded cheese and sprinkle Italian Seasoning.