Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers for Halloween

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray or grease an 8×8 baking dish.

Carefully cut tops off of the peppers and remove seeds. For Halloween, carve cute faces into the pepper wall if desired (see photo). Reserve the tops as well. Set the peppers and tops aside.

Cook the microwave rice according to package instructions or use 2 cups of leftover cooked rice. When it’s done allow it to cool. Add cool rice into a large mixing bowl. Add in the rinsed and drained black beans.

In a dry saute pan over medium heat, toast chopped walnuts. It only takes a few minutes, just until they brown a little bit and start to smell toasty. Remove walnuts from pan and add them to the bowl with the rice mixture.

Wipe out the pan. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil and swirl to coat. Add in the diced carrots and saute them for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the diced zucchini. Cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add this into the rice mixture.

To the mixture in the large bowl, add the crumbled goat cheese, the chopped parsley, and the Italian dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.

Using a spoon or scoop, stuff the peppers full of the mixture.

Place the stuffed peppers in the baking dish. Keep the top part of the pepper off. Bake stuffed peppers at 350ºF for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place pepper caps on top and return to oven. Bake an additional 30 minutes or until done. Peppers will sag and the tops will be browned when done.