Veggie Stuffed Peppers

I was making a tomato herb salmon tonight in the oven, and in an attempt to use up items in the fridge, it was suggested to me that making tomato veggie stuffed peppers would nicely compliment the flavour.

Here's what I came up with on the fly!

Ingredients:

• Bell peppers (3)
• Tomato sauce (I had some left-over home made stuff, but you can use canned just as well)
• Zucchini (1/4 cup diced)
• Mushrooms (1/4 diced)
• Garlic (2 cloves)
• Onion (1/4 cup diced)
• Rice (1 cup)
• Butter (4 tsp.)
• Fresh mozzarella cheese (much tastier than the mass produced stuff!)
  
• Salt
• Pepper
• Basil
  

Instructions:

1. Chop the zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, and onion finely. Grate the mozzarella and set aside.
2. Carve the bell peppers like a pumpkin, and scoop out the insides. Rinse out and set aside.
3. In a small pot, add water and rice and butter (2 tsp.). Keep at medium heat until the rice is cooked.
4. In a medium saucepan, heat butter (2 tsp) until melted. When hot, add the garlic and onion. It should sizzle lightly.
5. When the onion and garlic are golden brown, add the zucchini and mushroom. Cook until tender.
6. Fill a medium pot 3/4 full with water. Place the peppers in it and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling check the peppers for tenderness. You want them to be soft enough but not complete mush. I don't really know how to describe it any better than that. I took mine out about 3-4 minutes into the boil.
7. When the rice is done cooking, add it to the mushroom and zucchini. Add pepper, salt and basil to taste. Mix well.
8. In a glass oven dish, place the peppers so that they stand upright and spoon the rice & mushroom mix into the peppers. Pack it tightly in there!
9. Drizzle the tomato sauce over the peppers so that a good portion of them is covered. I also think putting some sauce inside would have been good, but I didn't think of it at the time.
10. Sprinkle the mozzarella over the peppers, and bake for 20 minutes at 350F.
11. Remove from the oven and let the peppers stand for 5 minutes.
12. Serve!