Winter Stuffed Peppers

I had forgotten how much I love eating stuffed vegetables. Stuffed eggplant, squash, bell peppers...all delicious! This recipe uses a minimum of meat/refined carbs and a maximum of fresh seasonal veggies (well, except a few). All the vegetables I used in this recipe came from my CSA share or my garden.

Serves 6-8

5 large bell peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds removed (I used green, but any color will do)
1 cup rice
2 strips of good quality smoked bacon, sliced (I used Trader Joes Applewood-smoked thick cut)
2 leeks, sliced lengthwise and then chopped into small half-moons
1 large carrot, diced
1 rutabaga, diced
1 medium sweet potato, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
3/4 pound ground pork (I just ground up the meat from 2 pork chops)
4 cups stock or water (I simmered bones from the 2 pork chops in some water)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Parboil rice in plenty of salted water for about 10 minutes, then drain
2. In a large frying pan, heat up a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add bacon and saute for a couple of minutes until starting to brown. Add leeks and cook until softened. Add root veggies and garlic and saute about 5 more minutes until just beginning to lose their hardness. Then add tomato sauce, thyme, sage, rice, and salt and pepper to taste. Remember to make it slightly more salty than normal, as you will be adding the ground meat shortly. Remove from heat, stir in the ground meat, then stuff into peppers.
3. Arrange into 2 baking dishes. Carefully pour stock over all the stuffed peppers. This provides some of the liquid to fully cook the rice. Bake at 375 F for 1 hour until rice is cooked through.