Tasty Tuesday: Family Recipe: Pepper Rice

I know you are thinking- pepper rice.  That must be hot & spicy.  Nope- doesn't have to be.  I make this with sweet banana peppers, but you could use others if you are braver than me.  This is perfect to use those pepper that are springing up in gardens everywhere.  I am giving you the recipe the way my mom & grandma make it, but I personally think it needs a bit more milk in the last 20-30 minutes of cooking time (I just stir it around and add more milk to make it creamy) and I cook it usually for about 20-30 minutes longer than the recipe says (my rice never gets done in that short of a time, but my mom's rice does).  

Anyway, now to my recipe:

Pepper Rice

1 cup uncooked converted long grain rice or brown rice

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 6 slices American cheese, broken into large pieces
• 4-5 fresh anaheim chilies, hatch chilies or sweet banana peppers, seeded and very roughly chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix everything in a 2 quart casserole using the milk to rinse out the soup can.
3. Stir halfway through, be sure to stir all the way to the bottom.
4. Add more liquid if it starts to dry out before rice is done.
5. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes until rice is tender (I usually have to cook for closer to an hour- I just taste a piece of rice at the 30 minute mark, and that is when I usually stir it around and add more milk).  I would continue to stir every 10 minutes or so and taste, but that is just me.  

So, hop on over to Jen's blog at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam to see a ton of other tasty recipes!