Veggie Stuffed Green Peppers

Brooks and I have been challenging each other for the past two weeks to be vegetarians. It's basically to be healthier, save money, enjoy more veggies--we just wanted to see if we could do it.

I didn't think it would be too difficult to me--I don't eat tons of meat. But my poor husband--he loves meat. It's his favorite food group. If we make roast beef, he eats the leftovers for breakfast. He would choose pork chops over brownies (I think he has an undiagnosed illness). In face, I remember one day for lunch he grilled about 8 pork chops and ate them all. For lunch. Nothing else.

We've been vegetarian for almost 2 weeks now. It's actually going pretty well. I love summer--we've been able to eat some amazing veggies.

Here's what I made the other night. My husband declared it to be the BEST stuffed green peppers he's ever had. Including recipes with meat. And he doesn't give out these kind of compliments lightly. We like to grade each other---he'll grade my cooking, I grade his sermons. It works well.

I wanted to share this recipe--so if you need a good vegetarian meal, go for it! It was great.
Disclaimer regarding recipe: I don't like following recipes. I almost never follow them exactly, so this isn't an exact recipe...more of a process, maybe?

Here's what you need:

5 or 6 Bell Peppers (green, red, yellow--whatever. I used 1 red and 4 greens)
Splash of olive oil
Garlic cloves (3 or 4)
1 onion
1 cup rice (I used brown rice)
2 cups water (or broth)
1 big tomato or several small ones
I cup corn kernels
1 tablespoon oregano
Salt
Pepper
1/3 to 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, depending on how much you like
1 jar spaghetti sauce (homemade or not...whatever you have)
Shredded Mozzarella cheese, around 1/2 cup

What you do:
Preheat your over to 375

Cut the top off and clean out your peppers. Save the tops for later. Boil some water in a pot, add the peppers and boil for about 6 minutes, or until you can almost stick a fork through the peppers.

Chop up your onions and garlic cloves. Heat the oil in a skillet, then toss in your onions and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, then add the rice to the skillet. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 2 cups of water (you could also use broth), oregano, salt and pepper (however much you want--don't be stingy!). Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for around 20 minutes. With the brown rice, I simmered for about 24 minutes. Stir occasionally.

While your rice is cooking, chop up tomatoes (more or less, depending on what you like). Also trim off any pepper that was left on the tops, chop that up and add to the rice. Add the tomatoes and corn to the rice mixture (maybe add some mushrooms? that would be good). If your rice mixture is dry, add some more water or broth. Add the parmesan cheese to the rice.

Look if your fridge to see if you have anything that needs to be used up and add to the rice mixture (maybe I'm the only one who does this?). In my fridge, I found a small amount of alfredo sauce and threw that in...made the filling creamier. You could also add in some tomato sauce if you like that, or some mozzarella cheese. Make sure you try your rice mixture---make sure the rice is tender, add in salt/pepper/whatever it needs.

In a greased baking dish, pour out some spaghetti sauce in the bottom, around 1 cup. This will help hold your peppers up. Arrange your peppers in the dish however you would like. I like to use them to support each other so they don't fall down. You could also trim the bottoms to make them sit flat.

Stuff your peppers as full of the rice mixture as you can.
Now stuff more filling into the peppers.
Now more...just kidding.
If you have leftover rice mixture that doesn't fit into the peppers, just pour the remainder over the top off all the peppers. Now spoon about 3 or 4 spoonfuls of spaghetti sauce over each pepper. Generously cover each pepper with shredded mozzarella cheese and stick the pan in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or so (I was feeding Olivia so mine cooked for almost 35 minutes and the tops were too brown). You want the peppers to be soft enough to cut with a fork.

Serve and enjoy!