Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup

We've been home from Hawaii for 3 weeks now and the weather has decided to turn the coldest that we've had so far. And I was just starting to get spring fever after a couple of really nice days. Instead, I'm making soups again to stay warm. Yesterday, we woke up to this:

Brrrrrrr! All the snow melted pretty quickly...this is Seattle, after all. It was all melted by afternoon so my neighbor and I walked to mass for Ash Wednesday at our local catholic church, neither of us had been to in years. We're not sure what compelled us to suddenly go to church but we’re both catholic and we both felt like getting ashes smothered on our faces.

So, now we have 40 days to wait until Easter and then maybe it will be spring by then. Ho hum...in the meantime, I will keep making soups, stews and comfort foods to hold me over. This is a new recipe by Hannah Freese, RD that we received this month. I love making the actual Stuffed Peppers. It is usually a fall meal at our house and a family favorite. This soup tastes just like the stuffed peppers and it's a lot easier to make, too. If you are having spring fever like me but the temperatures are just not cooperating, then it's time to make some Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup. It will make your house smell heavenly. Just don't have it on Fridays during lent. Fridays are meatless days or "fish Fridays", something I almost forgot about since I haven't practiced this in years. However, my neighbor reminded me that we are over 60 years old so that doesn't apply to us anymore. Really? I guess it has been a long time indeed.

Makes 5 servings (2 cups each)

1 lb. lean grd. beef

1 yellow onion, diced

2 red bell pepper, large (I liked mine fairly large hunks in the soup to taste like the real thing so I sliced them in long strips or you can dice them into smaller pieces)

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

3 -1/2 cups tomato sauce

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

4 cups beef broth

1. Place the grd. beef in the slow cooker and loosen the meat up. You can leave some slightly large hunks of meat, too. Large hunks will cook just as well and will taste like the meat in real stuffed peppers.

2. Add the rest of all the ingredients in the slow cooker and mix the mixture well.

3. Cover and cook for four hours on high or six hours on low setting.

4. Divide between bowls and enjoy. Additional toppings - Parmesan cheese, fresh parsley, chives, basil and/or cilantro.

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