Easy and Delicious Stuffed Pepper Soup!!!

Welcome back everyone! This weekend for us was a warm one. Warm enough to fool me into thinking that Spring might finally be on it's way over....I was wrong.  Mother Nature teased me once again. Yesterday started out nice so I packed up my kids and dressed in a cute spring outfit and shoes and decided to get out of the house for a while. I got to my friends house and was only in there for a half hour and then suddenly...BAAAMMMM. Snow covered the ground and I had to scrape my windows. Naturally I was freezing and when I got home I just wanted sweatpants and something warm in my belly. Quickly I had to check and see what I had in my freezer, pantry, and fridge and decided to make this soup. It was quick and so incredibly tasty and satisfying. It really hit the spot.
All you need is:

• 1 lb ground beef or ground sausage (I used a combination of both)
• 1 diced onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 12 oz can tomato paste
• 2 5.5 oz cans low sodium V8 juice
• 4 cups beef broth
• 2 14.5 oz cans stewed tomatoes (I used Italian style for extra flavor)
• 1 diced green bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cups rice (I use brown rice)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• salsa, jack cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips for topping

The first thing you want to do is brown your meat over medium heat and season it with the salt and pepper. When it's almost completely browned, you want to add the onion and garlic until the onion has softened.

Next add in the tomato paste. The heat will help make it easy to mix evenly with the meat mixture.

Once the tomato paste is warmed through it's time to add in the stewed tomatoes, V8 juice and the broth. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the green peppers and cover the pot with a lid and allow the peppers to soften.

This step is completely your choice. If you want a thick stew like consistency take your uncooked rice and put it directly into the pot and cover. If you want it thinner, cook the rice first then add it to the soup. For the sake of having this made quicker because I didn't think to start cooking the rice while I was prepping, I just put the uncooked rice directly into the pot. Either way, it's delicious.

Once you have the lid on your pot, let the soup simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until the rice is cooked completely through if you added it in uncooked. If you cooked the rice first just allow it to simmer about 10-15 minutes before serving.

Now serve it up with your toppings and scarf down. This will give you that warm fuzzy feeling pretty quick.

This is a quick comfort for me during those times when the wind is blowing and you want to cozy up in a hiding hole until the snow and the ice are gone. What are some of your favorite cozy up favorites?