Stuffed Bell Peppers and Cheap Books

The local Saint Vincent de Paul locations held a sale this weekend, wherein books and other wares were 50% off. I found a few worthy tomes, and combined with last week's Goodwill finds, my reading list has increased considerably:



Coming across Chronicles was particularly fortuitous, since it's required for an upcoming history course.

Ryan found The Ghost Map on Sunday and forgot to tell me about it until the next day, necessitating another trip across town in order to pick it up. I had already read it last summer, but being particularly enamored with books on disease, and parsimonious as hell (it was 33 cents!), how could I let it go?

I also bought Everyday Cooking with Dr. Dean Ornish. His recipes are agreeably healthy and considerably simple to make PKU-friendly. I'm currently in the process of replacing my cookbook library with more applicable works. Most of my cookbooks were given to me by my grandmother, and due to the fact that they are primarily mid-century, they all, let's put it frankly, suck. Bread books from that era are wonderful, and the period produced a number of absolutely wonderfully weird cookbooks that I collect mainly to scoff at. The bulk of my grandmother's, however, seem to contain about 50 recipes each that are a simulacrum of this:

3 pounds potatoes (dissevered however ye please)
1 cup butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Bake at 350 degrees

This yields, as one may surmise, a bland, buttery, and invariably undercooked dish. I could weigh further invective, but I've more pressing matters, such as last night's dinner:




Rice Stuffed Bell Pepper(s)*
Loosely based on a recipe by Dr. Ornish

2 bell peppers

2 cups stock

1 celery stick, diced

1 cup brown rice

1/2 can Italian style stewed tomatoes

1/3 cup frozen peas

Spices: I used a heaping amount of dessicated garlic and basil, some ground pepper, and cumin


Slice the upper 1/3 off the bell peppers to make lids and set aside. Remove the seeds and ribs from the interior of the peppers. Boil the peppers until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Drain and immerse in cold water, and when cool, pat dry.

In a medium saucepan, combine stock, celery, rice, and tomatoes and bring to a boil over high heat. Add spices to taste. Cover and simmer on low for 40 to 50 minutes, adding the peas during the last 10 minutes or so.

Scoop rice into bell peppers and cover with lids. Place peppers in a dish and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

We garnished ours with some Tapatio.



*Ryan and I are little people, so I only made one.