stuffed green peppers.

One day, I had the burning desire to make stuffed green peppers. This is weird because I've never made them before, and I honestly don't remember the last time I had a stuffed pepper. Regardless, turned to Google and did a search, to happy results. The following recipe was found on allrecipes.com.


the recipe
serves 4
1 cup water
1/2 cup uncooked Arborio rice
2 green bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in the rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and seat aside.
3. Place the peppers cut-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until tender and skin starts to brown.
4. While the peppers are roasting, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions, basil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in oil for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato, and cook for 5 minutes. Spoon in the cooked rice, and stir until heated through. Remove from heat, mix in the feta cheese, and spoon the mixture into the pepper halves.
5. Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.


substitutions
Brown rice instead of Arborio rice, spring onions instead of green onions, dry Italian dressing powder for the Italian seasoning, and no tomato.


great with
I thought at first that this was going to be filling enough to have on it's own, but the peppers I got were pretty small, so I quickly realized that wasn't going to work. I had one stuffed pepper half with a Morningstar Farms chicken pattie.


the review
Regardless of the fact that my picture of the pepper doesn't necessarily make the pepper look very pretty, you really must believe me when I say that these were very good. Very flavorful and for the most part, healthy. I like this recipe because I think there are a lot of different things that you could do with the rice mixture, depending on what your tastes are. I certainly changed it from the originally recipe, and it was great. I've already bought another pepper, so I'm looking forward to having these again.

oriental green beans with peanut sauce.

This is a recipe that I got from my mom. I think it might be from one of her vegetarian cookbooks, but I'm not sure which one. Anyways, my mom made this once and I thought it was delicious. I've been making it ever since. 

the recipe

serves 4

1 10-ounce package frozen French-style green beans

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons honey

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Cook green beans according to package directions. While beans are cooking, combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Mix with a fork or wire whisk until well blended. When beans are finished cooking, drain them and place in a serving bowl. Spoon peanut sauce evenly over beans and serve right away. 

substitutions

This recipe also works well with snap peas instead of greens beans. That's what I used for the picture for this entry. I also don't usually have ground ginger, so I just eliminate that item.

great with

Serving the green beans over some brown rice is delicious. I also usually like to have a Morningstar Farms chicken pattie with this recipe.

the review

I may be slightly biased since I'm a sucker for anything that has peanut butter in it, but I love this recipe. All the ingredients in the peanut sauce combine so well for an incredibly flavorful topping. I absolutely love it. It's also so easy to make. While this does keep and reheat pretty well, it's definitely best when it's first made. Enjoy!