DEAR SUN SPOTS: I read in your column that someone is looking for a recipe for stuffed green peppers (March 14). My husband put together this easy and good recipe that can be seasoned to fit your taste.

Wash two green peppers, cut off the top and remove seeds. Place in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to sit 8 minutes.

Make the filling using ¼ cup cooked rice mixed with ¼ pound lean cooked hamburger, 1 teaspoon onion flakes, salt and pepper.

Divide filling in two and stuff the peppers. Please in a greased loaf pan.

Mix ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce with ¼ can tomato soup and pour this over the two peppers.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. — Connie Beedy, rbeedy@gmail.com

ANSWER: The recipes have been pouring in, and Sun Spots is amazed at how different they are. There will be at least one more column of recipes, perhaps two!

DEAR SUN SPOTS: Here is my grandmom’s recipe for the requested stuffed cabbage and peppers. I gave guesstimated measurements. Grandmom and Mom never measured. This is what I observed and passed on to my daughters and granddaughter.

When I was working I brought these dishes to holiday parties. People who normally didn’t like these dishes liked mine, and they were demanded thereafter.

Hungarian stuffed cabbage

2-3 large green cabbages

2-3 onions thinly diced

2 pounds 95 percent lean ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1½ cups white or brown rice, not instant or precooked

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 large can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Several tablespoons of paprika

Pick cabbages that are smooth, not crinkled, and bright green. Rinse rice with cold water, set aside.

Rinse cabbage removing only one or two outside leaves. Carefully cut out only the core of cabbage. Do not cut into cabbage leaves.

In large bowl mix beef and pork. Set aside.

Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in large fry pan and add diced onions, lightly sprinkle salt and pepper, cooking onions until tender. Add paprika, about 2 tablespoons. Mix thoroughly. Done when mediumly browned.

Mix rice and onions into ground meat by hand (like kneading bread dough). Rinse fry pan with ½ cup water, then pour into meat mixture with just enough of the tomato sauce to bind the ingredients, but not so much the mixture is loose. Knead thoroughly. Sprinkle top of mixture with paprika. Knead thoroughly.

Fill large pan with water. Heat until water is simmering, then add cabbages, core-hole up. Cover cabbage with hot water. Keep simmering and spoon hot water into core hole. Loosen leaves of cabbage. When they have softened, remove leaves one at a time and drain and cool to allow handling.

Remove splines on cabbages to avoid splitting. Stuff cabbages and roll leaves. When center of cabbage leaves are too small to make rolls, slice them, the splines and center of cabbage into bottom of large soup or crockpot. Cover bottom of pot with lightly sliced cabbage, then layer stuffed cabbage rolls until pot is firmly packed but not overly so.

On top of pot place more lightly sliced cabbage leaves, diced tomatoes, the rest of the tomato sauce and vinegar. Sprinkle sugar and salt and pepper across the top. Cover tightly.

Heat until you hear it boil, then turn it down low and cook at least 1½ hours. Do not let it burn. If you use a crockpot, cook on low while at work or overnight.

Stuffed peppers Hungarian style

Wash 5-6 large, fat green peppers, cleaned with tops, seeds and splines removed.

Mix 1 pound lean ground beef, ¾ cup white or brown rice (not instant or precooked) rinsed and drained, and 1 large onion diced and sauteed, sprinkled with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of paprika.

Knead like bread dough adding enough of a small can of tomato sauce to bind the mixture but not so much it’s loose.

Stuff peppers with meat mixture, firmly but do not overfill, allow room for rice to expand.

Chop leftover pepper tops into large pot and add stuffed peppers. Add remaining tomato sauce, 1 can of water, 1 tablespoon cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar to pot, salt and pepper to taste and generously sprinkle with paprika.

Heat to a hard simmer, cover tightly and reduce to low heat. Cook about 1 hour or until rice is done. If using crockpot, start on high until well heated, then reduce to low and let cook for 2 to 3 hours or until rice is done. — D.L., Monmouth

ANSWER: D.L. wrote this all out by hand! Sun Spots hopes she typed it correctly, but if anything is unclear please write and Sun Spots will get clarification.

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