Stuff that pepper!

I made this recipe a few weeks ago, particularly for Jeremy's benefit. He really loves himself some peppers! Me, eh, not so much. But I don't hate them and since I was in a giving mood, I figured I'd make this special for him. It actually turned out pretty good! Although, for me personally, I'd rather just make the stuffing part and call it a day. That was so delicious! I could do without the pepper. But Jeremy loved it all!

Orzo-stuffed peppers with feta and mint

6 servings

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried orzo

4 oz bulk Italian hot or mild sausage

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups crumbled feta cheese (8 oz)

1/4 cup snipped fresh mint

1/4 tsp pepper

6 medium red, orange, and/or yellow sweet peppers (I only made 4 since there were only two of us; however, I still made the rest of the recipe as provided here. It meant I had left over stuffing, which I ate by itself for lunch!)

1 1/2 cups carrot or tomato juice (I didn't want left-over juice because it would go to waste, so I bought the only thing I could find with the proper amount: V8 juice in single servings. It worked well)

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a 4-5 quart Dutch oven cook orzo; drain. Set aside. Wipe dutch oven dry. (I have no clue what a Dutch oven is. So I cooked in a regular pot. I have nothing against the Dutch I swear!)

2. In a large nonstick skillet cook sausage, onion, celery, and garlic until sausage is browned and onion is tender. (I put my sausage in first and got it going a bit before adding the other ingredients). Remove from heat; drain fat, if any. Stir in cooked orzo, cheese, mint, and pepper.

3. Cut tops from peppers; remove seeds and ribs. Slightly trip bottoms of peppers to stand upright. Spoon orzo mixture into peppers and replace tops. Set aside. In Dutch oven stir together carrot/tomato juice and salt. (Again, just used a big pot). Stand peppers upright in Dutch oven. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered 20-25 minutes or until peppers are tender.

4. Serve peppers on rimmed plates. Spoon over any remaining cooking juices.

And for leftovers, you can spoon some spaghetti sauce over the peppers or just the stuffing and it works the same magic as the carrot/tomato juice!