A Vegetarian meal for even a meat-loving girl!

I'm no chef by any means. Typically, it's like 5 o'clock and I find a recipe. Then have to modify it b/c I only have 2/3 of the ingredients in the house! This recipe is perfectly my style and is easy to substitute what you like and hard to mess up.

Until I made this recipe, I don't believe I had ever intentionally planned a vegetarian meal, let alone one I REALLY enjoyed. You know, it's one thing to make a meatless salad, but come on, that's not filling.

Its official name is Spanish-Style Stuffed Peppers.

Here are the basics you'll need to make this work:

• 2 bell peppers (I like to mix it up and make it colorful)
• 1 pkg of Yellow Saffron Rice
• Garlic
• Diced tomatoes (fresh or canned, used tonight the diced ones with chilies)
• Olive oil
• Mexican Cheese
• Cilantro (or parsley)

Optional Ingredients you could mix and match to your liking:

• Small Poblano pepper (I've actually never used this, just chopped up some of one of the bell peppers I have...in addition to the two used)
• 1 Green onion (Another one I've never used but sometimes use a white onion or a few shakes of dried minced onion)
• Black Beans
• Ground Beef

Directions:

Prepare rice according to package.

Wash and cut in half (so you have a right and left side, not a top and bottom) the two bell peppers. Remove and discard seeds. Put in microwave safe dish for 3-4 minutes until tender.

Use paper towel to pat dry.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat for 1 to 3 minutes until it shimmers. Add about 2 cloves of garlic (I use minced garlic you keep in fridge). You can add more if you like garlic. Add tomatoes, onions, poblano (or bell) pepper. Cook a few minutes until tender and heated through. This is where you'll add things like beans if you wish.

Stir veggie mix into rice. Mix in 1/2 cup of cheese (or more if you LOVE cheese like me) and cilantro (again, as much or little as you'd like).

Take bell peppers and put them in the saute pan used for veggies. Add a few tablespoons of water in the pan. Stuff them with the rice mixture and sprinkle top with cheese. Cover and cook another 3 minutes or so until the cheese melts. Garnish with some more cilantro (if you don't run out, like I did this evening!)

YUM! Enjoy.

Amanda