Stuffed peppers = stuffed tummy

I made something tasty that is also inexpensive, easy to do, does not need many ingredients, and is aesthetically pleasing. Holla! (haha, that is the first time I've used "holla'"... I feel weird.)

My recipe is vegetarian, but you can add some chopped steak, ground beef, or left-over chicken if you want. There is no judgement here.

Ingredients:
- 1 Red bell pepper (for 1 person, or a side dish / snack for 2)
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced
- 1/4 green poblano chile pepper, chopped finely
- about 1/2 c black beans, rinsed
- about 3/4 c cooked white rice (ooh, or you could use wild rice)
- 1 roma tomato, chopped
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
- tabasco sauce
- olive oil
- parsley
- basil
- salt and pepper
- mozzarella cheese (or parmesan -- or! or! ... GOAT CHEESE! nom!!)

First, prepare your pepper-baby by cutting him in half and cutting out the seeds and crap. Then, rub the outside and inside with a little olive oil and put the halves, cut sides up, on a pan in a 400 degree oven ~15 mins. or til he looks kind of steamy, then pull him out and set him aside.

While he is roasting, chop up your onion, poblano, garlic, and tomato. First, caramelize the onion in a small pan - heat up a couple tbsps of oil and add the onions along with a pinch of salt and a tiny pinch of sugar. Stir often til they get nice and tender and darker in color.

While the onions are doing their thing, heat a little oil in a larger pan and saute the garlic and poblano pepper. Add the tomato, rice, caramelized onions, and beans and saute to combine everything, a couple of minutes. Add a little tabasco (Cuidado! Not too much or your peppers will be crazy spicy) and the parsley and basil. If you need to add some moisture (e.g. "It's burning! It's burning! Eeee!"), you can add a little water, broth, or tomato juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

They call them "stuffed" peppers but this is misleading. "Filled" peppers works, though. Fill each pepper half with the rice mixture. Top everything with some cheese and put everything back in the oven for another 10 mins. or so. At the very end, you can turn the oven to broil, but keep a close eye on him - it will take only a couple minutes to get a nice browned top and roasted outside.

These were so tasty - spicy, but balanced by the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the black beans. I am getting hungry doing this post (looks wistfully, if vacantly, around room). Sigh.