Probably for months now, I’ve been thinking (and sometimes talking) about making stuffed peppers. My mom makes incredible stuffed peppers, but I saw a recipe for orzo stuffed peppers from the Food Network, which is a variation on hers. I finally took the plunge, got all the ingredients, rushed home from work and whipped up stuffed peppers.

The peppers turned out delicious. Judge for yourselves.

Of course you are wondering, how can I have a stuffed pepper like this for dinner? Well, it’s actually relatively simple.

What you will need:
Canned Italian Tomatoes (I suggest buy chopped tomatoes, if you want to save on prep time)
Grated zucchini
Fresh mint
Grated Romano Picorino cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper
Chicken broth (I used 99% fat free)
Orzo, and of course
Sweet bell peppers

What you will want to do to turn these great ingredients into actual stuffed peppers is the following:
1. Mix canned tomatoes, grated zucchini, chopped fresh mint, cheese, olive oil, salt and ground pepper in a bowl.
2. Bring chicken broth to boil.
3. Add orzo to boiled chicken broth and boil for a few minutes (make sure the orzo is NOT fully cooked).
4. Once orzo is ready, sift it.
5. Mix the orzo with the ingredients you’ve already premixed in item 1 above and poor the left over chicken broth into the baking dish you’ll use for the stuffed peppers. To identify the dish, I chose a glass pie dish I had at home that was able to fit 6 peppers.
6. Remove all the insides of the bell peppers and discard.
7. Place the peppers in the baking dish and fill with the orzo mix.
8. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 400F. Than remove foil, cover the peppers with additional grated cheese and bake for another 15 minutes uncovered…

…and Voila!

I would recommend letting the peppers cool off slightly before serving. From personal experience they tasted better when they weren’t steaming hot.

Enjoy!