Stuffed Green Pepper recipe ala Seaweed

Ingredient List:
[modify to suit your normal recipe as desired]

• Small green peppers

• Crumbled Italian sausage, cooked

• Petite diced tomatoes in a can or a fresh Roma

• Lean ground beef cooked

• Mozzarella cheese

• Salsa

• Tomato Sauce

You'll want to buy the smallest green peppers you can find. They must slide into the jar and those one cup wide mouth jars are 3.25 inches across.

As a matter of habit I do not use fillers such as rice inside the stuffed peppers I'm canning. I want my jars to be filled with umph so I can add the side dishes from my dry goods larder.

First things first:  Crumble your Italian sausage and cook over medium heat until done.  Remove from heat but leave the grease in the pan to add flavor for the hamburger.

In the same pan cook the burger with the tomatoes... not a lot of tomato either. I add tomato because I believe it imparts a nice flavor and some moisture to the meat. My former mother-in-law added a fresh tomato to her meat loaf and it was amazing, so I've copied her idea.

Scoop out the good stuff leaving any grease behind in the pan. Add the cooked lean ground beef with tomatoes to the sausage in a bowl.  Stir.  Next add some grated Mozzarella cheese and stir. 

Congratulations! That's the stuffing for my green peppers. If you prefer other stuffing of course go with what suits your palate. Mine's not sophisticated by any means so please yourself first.

Of late I seem to be preferring spicier foods, thus I added a heaping tablespoon of salsa at the bottom of my jar. You might prefer tomato sauce. Either will be fine.

After gutting the green pepper I nuked it (microwave) for about 30 seconds. Basically I wanted it hot and pliant so it would fit into the jar more easily. That, and I like all my ingredients hot prior to processing in the pressure cooker.

Next add the green pepper to your jar. [Some of the green pepper caps I diced small and added to other later batches of hamburger as it was cooking. Some I snacked on.]

As you can see I was rather generous with the Mozzarella this time. That varies as the mood suits me. I had more sausage so wanted to tone down the stuffing just a bit.

I never cook the same thing the same way. That's not my nature. It's lots more fun to experiment.

Finally, a dab of sauce on top, dribbling some down the edges so you've got a nice delicious meal for later all ready for processing. I add sauce to the edges so I have plenty in case I want to make a tomato sauce as a gravy over mashed potatoes. For me, that's a nice accompaniment for the stuffed green pepper.

Processing. First, refer to and follow the instructions in:
Processing in Pressure Cooker (Preserving Meats, Part 2)

The time required for Stuffed Green Peppers is one hour after your cooker comes up to pressure.