"Unstuffed" Pepper Soup

I've had a craving lately for stuffed peppers, but it's been so busy since the kids went back to school after the holiday break, that it's taken me this long to do something about it! I think I've maybe made stuffed peppers once or twice in my entire life (and I didn't save the recipe)! Two of the grocery stores around here had good deals on peppers last week, so I stocked up.  Raw red peppers are one of my favorite veggies -  I can easily eat an entire pepper in one sitting.  Since I had so many peppers (I think I bought 7 or 8 total), I decided to use a couple of them along with some other ingredients that you would typically find in baked stuffed peppers, but made it into soup.  One word - YUMMY!  I didn't use green peppers in this soup (you can if you want). I personally like the taste of a red, yellow or orange pepper instead  in a soup - I think they taste sweeter. This soup turned out pretty thick (which I prefer), so feel free to add additional water if you like a thinner soup. If you close your eyes when you are eating this, you would think you were eating a "stuffed" pepper that just came out of the oven!!

Ingredients:

2 cups peppers (red, green, yellow or orange),
  seeds and membranes removed, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
2 tablespoons margarine
1 1/4 pound ground chuck
2 cups cooked white rice
6 cups water
28-ounce can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Mozzarella cheese, shredded

In small saucepan, brown ground chuck into small pieces until no longer pink.  Drain off fat and set aside. In large stockpot, melt the two tablespoons of margarine and add the peppers and onion. Saute until the peppers and onions are just starting to get soft.  If you don't have leftover white rice, you can make it while you are browning the meat or while you are sauteing the peppers and onions.  Add the ground chuck, white rice, water, tomatoes, paprika, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pour into soup bowls and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.