A Child's Portion: Stuffed Red Peppers

For some reason I keep ending up on stuffed red pepper recipes in my e-travels lately and I don't really care for red peppers, haha.  It seemed like something the kids would like so I added it to my menu for the week.  Of course, I couldn't find the perfect recipe so I just mixed a bunch of different ones together to come up with tonight's version.  I served it with a spinach salad and a fresh baguette.  What a great meal at the end of a very (very very) long day.

Stuffed Red Peppers

6 red peppers

butter

2 chopped onions

4 cloves minced garlic

4 stalks chopped celery

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

2 cups cooked (brown) rice

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

cheddar cheese

1 batch chunky pasta sauce

*Hollow out the red peppers and boil for 5 minutes

*Saute onions in butter until very soft.  Add garlic, celery, and sunflower seeds and cook for 6-8 minutes.

*Add rice, parsley, salt and pepper, beans, cumin, and parsley and mix well.

*Spoon mixture into peppers and top with cheese.

*Use the pasta sauce to line a casserole dish.  Place stuffed peppers into the sauce and cover with more. 

*Cover dish with tin foil and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.  Remove foil and bake until cheese is bubbly.