Skinny Stuffed Pepper Soup

It was a great night for soup tonight and I had a pretty decent selection of fresh ingredients. I've been in the mood for stuffed pepper soup lately and had everything I needed to make a rather tasty (and I'm guessing healthy) version.  It turned out wonderfully and I will definitely make it again. The organic grass-fed beef was really good and it was very lean. I liked the very lean part because there was no need to drain that pesky extra fat. The small amount of fat it did have just added to the flavor of the soup. There were no added oils for the recipe, so the fat content is pretty low even without draining off the tiny bit of fat still left. 

I chose to prepare the rice separately and add it right before serving. Some stuffed pepper soups I've tried, while still delicious, were missing a good part of the broth because the rice had taken it all in. Adding it right before serving allowed the soup the keep most of its flavorful broth.  The soup turned out really well and other than the broth and 2 kinds of spices (3 if you count one very small shake of salt near the end), all the ingredients were fresh!  No canned veggies here today, not that I'm against canned, I just enjoyed the fresh flavor of the soup. 

Ingredients:

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

1 green pepper, large dice

1 small onion, medium dice

~12 grape/yellow pear/cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

32 oz. vegetable broth or stock

Ground cumin, to taste

Chili powder, to taste

Salt, optional

Prepared rice, about a cup

Brown beef in a medium sauce pan. When the beef is partially cooked through, add peppers, onion, and garlic. Mix it up and cook until meat is browned and peppers are getting tender. Add vegetable stock, cumin, chili powder, and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and let the flavors mingle for several minutes. When tomatoes are soft but not yet disintegrated, the soup is ready for serving. Add rice to the bowl and top with soup. Mix it up and serve immediately.