Stuffed Peppers

I have made stuffed peppers one other time in the past, but they were not a hit.  Joe is a little picky when it comes to his food mixing so I am blaming the lack of excitement about my past stuffed peppers on him.  He especially doesn't like meat mixed with things so when I set out to try again, I decided that I was going to make them vegetarian.  I again looked a bunch of different recipes and this is what I came up with... 

Ingredients:

2 peppers (I had orange peppers so that is what I used)
1 small onions, chopped
1 clove of minced garlic
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 grated carrot
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 cup of cooked rice
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon of basil
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
2 teaspoons of olive oil + my olive oil Misto

Directions:

1.  Cut peppers in half, and scoop out seeds, membrane, and stem.  Spray them with olive oil Misto, place them in a baking side face down in a 350 degree oven.  I would say it was probably 15 minutes or so...I didn't time it.  They just stayed in the oven for however long it took me to get the rest ready.

2.  Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil and saute the onions, garlic, and celery...for awhile.  Again, I didn't time it..I just cooked it until it was ready.  (I know Rachel...I am sorry...I promise I will time it next time)

3.  Add peas and carrot and continue cooking for a few minutes. Then add the cooked rice and spices and mix.

4. Open the can of diced tomatoes and reserve about a 1/2 cup.  Pour the rest of the can into the vegetable and rice mixture and stir.

5.  Take the peppers out of the oven and out of the dish (for a moment) and put the 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes you reserved in the baking dish and place the peppers back in the dish and scoop the vegi/rice mixture into the peppers. 

6.  Bake for another 20 minutes or so...

A lot of the recipes I saw called for a slice of cheese on the top of the pepper as it got closer to being done, but I didn't add that.  When I told Joe this, he got out the Parmesan cheese and added some to the top of his.  I didn't because as it stood it was a pretty low-point side dish to go along with the grilled chicken.  We only each ate a half of a pepper so we will eat it later this week (hopefully).

Definitely a keeper!