Sweet and Spicy Stuffed Peppers

Hurray! Finally time to cook this weekend! *Jumping in the air and clicking heels together*

Since I actually had more than five minutes to cook, I decided to go all out this weekend and cook my ass off. (Not literally though, because I don't think that would technically be "vegan.") Anyways, inspired by the peanut-butter conversations I've been having in the comments section of this blog, I decided to try out a couple of recipes from the Passion for Peanut Butter article in the most recent issue of VegNews. Mostly I was just excited to try out these stuffed peppers, as I found myself thinking "Peanut butter? In stuffed peppers?!?" And when I mentioned to my sister that I was making this recipe, her response was the same as well. But I can assure you, the inclusion of peanut butter in this recipe was interesting and delightful.

Though I won't be posting the recipe here (I have no smoldering anger against VegNews like I do the Vegetarian Times that would compel me to defy copyright laws and post their recipes here--so I recommend getting the newest issue as it's got some damn good recipes in it), I will at least give you an idea of what these stuffed peppers consisted of. Basically, they are red peppers (though I used a couple of green as well) stuffed with brown rice, red peppers, kidney beans, peanut butter, parsley, jalapenos, and salsa. F-ed up, no?

Unfortunately, since I was having some sort of Three Stooges space-cadet kind of weekend, I somehow managed to leave out the kidney beans. Thankfully, the stuffed peppers were still really damn good. I also forgot to cover them like the recipe states--perhaps this would've made them more moist, but truth be told, I like my pepper-stuffings a bit more crunchy and crisp.

All in all, this was a really interesting and tasty stuffed pepper recipe (and the nice thing about it is that you can easily tweak it or experiment with it each time you make it, just by using different salsas)--it's got a nice kick to it from the jalapenos and salsa, and yet it's also kind of rich as well, from the peanut butter.

Despite the fact that I left out the kidney beans, I did remix some in with my leftovers last night, and they did add a bit more oomph to the recipe. For those of you who aren't big fans of beans, you can definitely do without. But if you like-a da beans, definitely include them in, as they add a bit more texturally and flavor-wise.

Good stuff.

(p. 60, April 2007 issue of VegNews)