Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is the recipe my mom always made when I was little, in my Italian family in NJ:) It's very simple but delicious, and I find the simplest recipes are always my favorites.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1  lb ground beef
• 1 1⁄2 cups cooked white rice
• 1  egg
•  salt and pepper
•  garlic powder
• 3  medium  size green bell peppers
• 1 (67 ounce) jar  pasta sauce (I use Prego traditional or make homemade)

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix together the cooked rice and the raw ground beef.
2. Add the egg, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to your taste, and mix very well.(I find it's best to mix it with your hands like meatloaf.).
3. Prepare the peppers by cutting them in half from top to bottom like an apple, so you have two identical halves. Take off the stem and remove the seeds.
4. Fill the pepper halves equally with the rice mixture. Set them down in a 13x9" baking pan that you have put a little of the sauce on the bottom of first.
5. Generously spoon sauce over the stuffed top of each pepper and then pour the remaining sauce around the peppers in the pan.
6. Sprinkle the top with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
7. Bake at 350°F until the peppers are very soft and tender when tested with a knife.(depending on your oven maybe an hour or so; mine takes longer because my oven is ancient:).
8. Spoon the sauce over the peppers at least three or four times while they are cooking. The sauce will thicken slightly as you bake the peppers and get delicious and rich.
9. Enjoy!