Stuffed Green Peppers (Vegetarian Option)

These are a family favorite that I make on a regular basis... enjoy!

6 green bell peppers	salt and pepper to taste
1 pound ground beef or ground fake meat	1/3 cup chopped onion
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped	1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup uncooked rice	1/2 cup water
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese	1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup	2 tbsp white vinegar
Water as needed	2 cloves of garlic

Method:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.
2. In a large skillet, saute beef and onions for 5 minutes, or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, add garlic and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Stuff each pepper with the beef and rice mixture, and place peppers open side up in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine tomato soup, vinegar and with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency. Pour over the peppers.
4. Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.

** If you want to make this in a slow cooker, skip the boiling peppers portion. Continue to prepare using directions above. Cook on high for 2-3hrs depending on your slow cooker. Take a toothpick and pierce pepper to see if done.

Summer is half over! #weightlossjourney #Ozempic #summerfun #camping

Kim, © 2023 thismomneedswine.com

I can't believe the summer is half over already... it's the August civic long weekend coming up. It feels like just the other day I was planning the camping trip, and that's now long gone. It's been an awesome summer so far, and I don't want it to end. 

At the beginning of July I went camping with my partner and our two kids to the KOA campground in Barrie. We borrowed my neighbours popup tent and camped for 7 days - which I must say there was some challenges along the way, but I can laugh at most of them. It started on July 2nd... we rented a truck to be able to tow the tent/trailer to the campsite. We had zero knowledge or instructions from U-Haul and ventured to the site. Well, we were on the way there and the damn trailer came off the hitch on a hill! Shit... we ended up blocking the small highway as people were passing us. Thank God 4 people pulled over to help us... didn't realize that we forgot to put the pin on the hitch, which made it bounce off. One of the gentlemen were kind enough to give us one of his that he had... thank you to the wonderful people who stopped and helped us that day. It's also a good thing that we didn't have any of the kids with us at that time... we wanted to go and set everything up first and then grab the Munchkins.

We arrived at the campsite and had a hell of a time setting everything up... once again thanks to some amazing campers next door to us that helped us set up the pop-up camper. I'm sure they enjoyed the show from beginning to end... especially watching my partner try and back the trailer up using a U-Haul truck! 

Once everything was set up, we took the truck back and then swung by our Barrie home to get Brianna. We weren't able to pick up his daughter until the next day... so first thing in the morning we went to Toronto to get the Munchkin. We flew across super fast and was back at the campsite... I can't even remember each day what we did, as it felt like one really long day instead of 7 days! We went swimming daily, watched evening movies with all the kids at the campground, enjoyed crafts, water fights, board games and plenty of temper tantrums!