Mama Vi’s Baked, Stuffed Tomatoes

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 12 large firm tomatoes
• 1 large onion, diced fine
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced fine
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated (medium)
• 1/2 lb bacon, fried crisp, crumbled
• 6 -8 slices bread, dried and crushed into crumbs
• 1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese (more or less to taste)
• water (for cooking)

Recipe

• 1 make bread crumbs in advance either converting bread slices into bread
• 2 crumbs by drying in oven or leaving out on counter for a day to dry the bread, or else just simply substitute equivalent amount of store-bought, pre-packaged bread crumbs (roughly, my guess is 1 1/2 to 2 cups depending on your preference for how dry to make the stuffing).
• 3 fry bacon and crumble. grate cheese.
• 4 dice celery and green pepper.
• 5 set all aside.
• 6 remove top of each tomato. scoop out tomatoes using something like a melon ball scooper or other sharp edge instrument to remove pulp but in process to keep from
• 7 mashing up the tomato.
• 8 chop tomato pulp into small chunks.
• 9 add diced onion, bell pepper, celery, cheese and pre-cooked bacon to tomato pulp pieces, then add bread crumbs and stir them into tomato pulp mixture.
• 10 add salt and pepper to taste.
• 11 spoon the tomato pulp/stuffing mixture back into tomato shells, mounding slightly over top of scooped out tomato
• 12 place in baking dish of appropriate size, add enough water (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups) to the bottom of baking dish to prevent tomatoes burning while baking.
• 13 cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until
• 14 you can smell the tomatoes cooking.
• 15 a few minutes prior to serving, remove the aluminum foil from top of baking dish and liberally sprinkle the top of each stuffed tomato with parmesan cheese.
• 16 place tomatoes under broiler for 1 to 2 minutes or until parmesan is golden brown.
• 17 quickly remove from broiler heat and serve or set aside tomatoes on very low heat to keep warm until you can serve them.
• 18 (note: be careful not to broil too long and burn the top of the stuffed tomatoes).
• 19 serve and enjoy.