Ryan’s Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup instant rice
• 2 pounds ground beef (85 lean)
• 3/4 cup barbeque sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 16 slices bacon
• 8 green bell peppers, top and seeds removed

Directions

Preheat oven to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir rice into boiling water, cover saucepan with a lid, and remove saucepan entirely from heat. Let rice and water sit undisturbed until the rice is tender and the water absorbed, about 5 minutes.

Mix rice, ground beef, barbeque sauce, ketchup, egg, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder together in a mixing bowl.

Put 2 slices bacon into the cavity of each bell pepper so that the centers of each slice form a cross at the bottom and the strips run up the insides of the peppers. Fill the pepper with the ground beef mixture to the top and fold the ends of the bacon strips over the top of the beef filling. Arrange peppers into a baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven until beef filling is hot and grey in the center, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).