Stuffed Peppers and Other Stuff

We had a fun Independence Day. Our home group from church met at a park for a potluck dinner, then played games and chatted until the big firework show started.

I found a good deal on green bell peppers, so tonight I made stuffed peppers for the first time. Neither Hubby nor I had ever eaten a stuffed pepper. I looked at several recipes and came to the conclusion that there is no “correct” way to make a stuffed pepper, so I made up my own recipe. I cooked some ground beef with chopped onion, celery, and green pepper, mixed in a couple handfuls of bread crumbs, and stirred in about a cup of leftover spaghetti sauce. I stuffed this mixture into the pepper cups, poured a little more spaghetti sauce over the top, and baked at 350 degrees for half an hour. Then I sprinkled on some grated cheddar cheese and additional bread crumbs and baked for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. They came out great! While we were eating them, we came up with the idea of pizza peppers, made with pizza sauce, pepperoni or sausage, olives, and mozzarella cheese. Maybe we’ll try that next time.

My belly button has been slowly turning into an “outie” for the past several weeks, but yesterday I stood up from using the computer and realized that it had finally completely popped outward! Weird.

I have been doing well with avoiding sugar. It helps to not keep junk in the house! I’m not even having any serious cravings, and I think I’ve lost a couple of pounds, too, just by eliminating refined sugar and filling up on healthier foods instead.