Stuffed Peppers

This one is a bit time consuming but oh-so-good I couldn't resist adding it. Last time I made it I put together the inside in the afternoon during Anna's nap and then just stuffed and baked at dinner time. It's from the wonderful Costco cookbook.

1/4 cup each white, brown and wild rice - I usually buy those box mixes of white and wild rice with the spices, cook it and mix in 1/2 to a cup of that with the brown rice
6 medium bell peppers, any color but the red ones are good because they are so sweet
1 lb sausage
1 small onion, chopped
4 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 lb fresh small mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
2 eggs, beaten
olive oil

Prepare rices and set aside. Preheat oven to 350. Wash and clean bell peppers. Slice off the tops (about 1/2 in) and clean insides thoroughly. If they don't stand up on their own, cut a tiny bit off the bottom for a base. Cook sausage in a large frying pan. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Pour off most of the grease but leave some in the pan. Saute onion, garlic, mushrooms and parsley in the pan until soft. Add walnuts and saute 2 minutes. Add back sausage to vegetable mixture and add cheese, rices, spices and eggs. Combine well. Rub the exterior of the peppers with olive oil and stuff with the sausage mixture. Place in a baking pan, cover loosely with foil and bake 1-1 1/2 hours.

If your kids aren't into the peppers, you could probably just mix in diced peppers and bake the innards in a pan. I don't think it would take the full hour but don't know how long it would take so let me know if you do it this way.