Kitchen Experimenting.. Take One ..... Stuffed Pepper Yum Yum A Success!!

Stuffed Pepper Yum Yum  - that's what we decided to call this dish once we had devoured it without speaking!

After a long day of work, Chad collapsed into a much needed 3 hour nap. I decided to get my beginner cook self in the kitchen and see what I could create.  I opened up my new favorite book - Clean Food by Terry Walters. I was immediately inspired to create a dish that was deceptively vegetarian and full of CLEAN ingredients!

Step 1. Prepare the Rice

I decided to mix some of our whole grain rice mix (1/2 cup) with our brown rice (1/2 cup). I threw those in a pot with 2 cups of water and some kosher salt.  I brought the mix to a boil and then adjusted the heat to simmer and covered the pot.  This rice will sit and absorb the water for about 40 minutes.

Step 2. Prep for the Stuffing
While the rice was cooking, I chopped up some onion, and shaved some fresh sweet corn.  I then added these into a bowl with 1 beaten egg and some canned diced tomatoes. I then started pre-heating the oven to 375F.  Once the rice was complete, I added it as well and mixed it all together to create our tasty stuffing!

Step 3. STUFF
I then took three large bell peppers (orange, red, and yellow to make it colorful) and made an opening at the top and rinsed out all of the seeds.  I then packed them full of our yummy stuffing and lined them up in a cooking tray that I filled about a 1/4" deep with water. I placed the tray (carefully) into the oven and set a timer for 35 minutes.

Step 4. Prep the side
In order to elude my fiance Chad from the fact that there was no meat in this meal, I decided to prepare some roasted potatoes as a side.  I took approximately three medium sized buttercream potatoes and chopped them into homefries size.  I filled a pan with olive oil and put it on medium heat. I then added the potatoes and threw in some dried italian herb mix that I have as well as freshly cut dill and rosemary from my herb garden.

(that's my dill!)

Step 5. Add some Salad for extra yummy!

I then threw together a quick to prep, but amazingly delicious salad that Chad and I both have not been able to stop eating (I'm averaging about 1/day)!  All it takes is a nice baby spring mix with some chopped carrots, sliced cucumber, chopped tomato, grated cheese (we were out of my fav - feta, so we sufficed with some parmesan) and some crispy sesame sticks. We topped it off with our absolute favorite dressing - Annie's Goddess Dressing (thank you Hala for introducing us to this amazing dressing!) YUM!

Step 5. Presentation

Once the peppers were done, I pulled them out and laid them on their side and then sprinkled some mexican cheese mix on top as well as some low-fat sour cream.  I then added the roasted potatoes and placed a sprig of rosemary on top to make it all pretty.

Chad woke up just in time for the dinner bell and we proceeded to devour our food without saying two licks of anything to one another other than mmmmhh.. mmmm... mmm.. wow... yum... 

Seriously, our meal went on like that for about 15 minutes - I kind of wish I had recorded it. 

I am SO excited about my first yummy dish and am pleased to tell you that every ingredient was fresh and healthy! Bring on the good eats!