I have made this soup at least once (and sometimes twice) a month since September. It’s just that good–and easy to cook. Maximum flavor with minimal effort? During a busy work week, that sounds perfect.
In the early Fall, my parents and I paid a visit to Hand Melon Farm in upstate New York where we picked bushel upon bushel of fresh vegetables. Eggplants, green bell peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, yellow squash, acorn squash…you name it, it was ripe for the picking.
Piece of trivia: Dogs enjoy vegetable picking, too.
One of my favorite meals growing up was Stuffed Peppers–green bell peppers hollowed out, stuffed with a ground beef and rice mixture, and simmered in a large pot of tomato soup. Sunday Supper Heaven. After returning from Hand Melon Farm with half a bushel of green bell peppers, we decided to stuff bell peppers…into soup form. (Sometimes, the best creations occur when you throw ingredients into a pot and hope for the best). I’ve been making this soup ever since, and C and I haven’t gotten sick of it yet. (Shocker).
This soup is the lazy person’s Stuffed Peppers. It combines all the same ingredients–except for the ground beef, which I swapped for lean ground turkey–and packs the same, rich flavors. Each spoonful is like biting into a bowl of stuffed peppers, except not nearly as messy and ready in half the time. Win.
Disclaimer/Caveat/Sidenote: This recipe is one of the rare instances I use beef. Even though the ingredient is beef broth, that still counts. This was one substitution I couldn’t make–the stuffed pepper flavors just wouldn’t match up. It took almost a year for “cow” to make an appearance. Savor the moment!
Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup
Ingredients
1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 small to medium yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup uncooked long grain brown rice
2 small green bell peppers, chopped into bite size pieces
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 10.5 oz cans Campbell’s Tomato Soup
4 cups beef broth
1. Cook long grain brown rice in a pot according to package directions.
2. While rice is cooking, combine olive oil and onion in a large pot and cook over medium heat until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant for an additional minute.
3. Brown ground turkey in the pot, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add tomato soup and beef broth to the pot, stir to combine. Bring soup to a light boil, then simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
5. Add chopped green bell pepper and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
6. Distribute the soup into bowls, adding desired amount of rice into each bowl. Top with Parmesan cheese, if desired.
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