Stuffed pepper soup (recipe & picture)

Sorry for the bad picture, I've been blogging with my cell phone for the past year & while it's so much easier for me, my dinky cell phone has a very bad camera!

This is a family heirloom recipe, one of my favorites. I don't know how many generations back it goes, but I do know my great-grandmother made it, and she immigrated from Croatia, so she may have grown up eating it there. It really is traditional "peasant food". This soup was always eaten by my family served over broken up pieces of bread (and sometimes mashed potatoes instead of the bread). Simple but oh so delicious. Growing up, my grandmother made it with canned tomato juice. I've taken this soup to a whole new level by using fresh tomatoes picked from our farm gardens.

8 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped sweet bell pepper
1 pound ground beef
salt & pepper

Wash & chop tomatoes, cook down until soft. Puree (I use my stick blender). Add chopped peppers & meatballs, cook until done. Season with salt & pepper.

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