Meatless Stuffed Peppers

The two recipes I have in my cookbooks for stuffed peppers called for either a combination of cooked ground meat and white rice/vegetables or vegetables/pine nuts/currants. I opted to use my own simple filling based on what we had on hand. Cooking times come from the books.

Ingredients:

4 large sweet/bell peppers. If you get a mix of short/squat plus the taller type, it will help later on when you put them in the baking pan.
1 cup arborio rice, cooked separately
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 slice red onion, chopped
1 small to medium zucchini, chopped
1 small to medium yellow squash, chopped
Salt
Black Pepper
1/2 cup - 1 cup walnuts, chopped
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Wash the sweet peppers, slice off the tops (set these aside), and clean out the inner membrane and seeds with a small knife or spoon. Place peppers in a pot, cover with enough water to boil for three to five minutes, then boil. Remove immediately from water, stand them up in a baking pan.







In a separate bowl, mix the rice, celery, carrot, red onion, zucchini, squash, salt, pepper and walnuts.
Stuff each pepper with the vegetable/nut mixture. Drizzle e-v-o-o inside peppers.Replace tops on peppers. Preheat oven to 350F, bake for 40 minutes.
Serves: 2-4
Sources: Betty Crocker Cookbook and the essential mediterranean cookbook (bay books)