Two-fer: Stuffed Peppers and Tomato Soup

I had 5 peppers and about 20 tomatoes laying around the house so I decided to get a-cookin! The beauty here is that both recipes call for onion and garlic, so I just carmelized a bunch and split it between the two recipes. I got the soup "method" from my Aunt Celia. I used a food processor to make the soup, but a blender will work fine too.

To start:
9 onions (mine were small), coarsely chopped
9 cloves garlic (or to taste), coarsely chopped

For the peppers:
1lb ground turkey
5 bell peppers (any color)
1 red frying pepper, chopped
seasoning of your choice (I used italian seasonings)
1.5c. cooked rice
1 tomato, chopped
salt
pepper
1/2c. ketchup
1/2c. beef stock
tabasco or hot pepper (minced)

For the soup:
as many tomatoes as you have ( I realize not everyone has 20!)
basil
italian seasoning
4c. chicken stock

So, to start, lets get those onions cooking! Heat skillet and add a little but of olive oil.

Once oil is heated, throw in onions and garlic, cooking until tender, about 20 mins (longer if you're patient. I am not).

Remove from heat and set aside.

Stuffed Peppers
Remove the tops from the peppers and clean the seeds out from the inside. Wash, and set in baking pan.

In a bowl, combine turkey, pepper, tomato, seasonings, 1/4 of the onion/garlic mix and rice. Mix well.

Stuff into peppers.

In a bowl, mix the ketchup and stock together until blended. Add tabasco or hot pepper mince to taste.

Spoon topping over peppers. Bake at 350 for 45 mins.

Notes: Alternately, you could cook the turkey before stuffing it into the pepper. I like it uncooked because then the pepper is filled with a little turkey meatloaf :) Pasta/spaghetti sauce could be used as a topping, but I prefer the sweetness of the ketchup. These freeze well. In fact, I made them for dinner but then the husband wanted grilled cheese, so they cooled on the counter and went right into the freezer. Freeze in baking pan, then bag them once they're frozen. This makes it easier to only have one or two at a time for dinner.

Tomato Soup
Get some water boiling in a large stock pot.

While you're waiting for it to come to a boil, turn all your tomatoes upside down and cut a tiny 'X' on the bottom of each one. This is useful, trust me.

When the water boils, throw the tomatoes (a few at a time, you don't want to overcook them here) into the pot. Retrieve after a minute.

This is where those X'es come in handy. Start there and remove the skin from the tomato. Place the tomato aside. Remove the skin from all tomatoes.

Discard the water and rinse your stock pot.

Remove the cores from the tomatoes and place in a food processor a few at a time. Process until smooth and all chunks are gone. Pour the puree into a stock pot.

Puree the onion/garlic mixture and pour into the stock pot.

Add your seasonings and the chicken stock. Simmer for an hour, letting all of the flavors blend.

Note: You could use veggie stock or omit the stock entirely.