I do love to cook with fresh ingredients and do so for the most part. A couple of recent posts I used jar sauce which I have no problem with but I do add my own spin to it by adding fresh garlic, onions and herbs.  I have been known to pick up a store prepared potato or pasta salad on a rare occasion; especially during the week after work.  Sometimes there just isn’t enough time to get it together.  Or there is a time and place rule that takes over; case in point.

This weekend we spent up North with some friends; they stayed on their boat we were in a close by Inn.  The weather wasn’t great on Saturday so we played a round of golf. I shot my personal best for 18 holes and beat the guys by 6 strokes; just saying.  Sunday was spent on the water and just plain glorious.  We grilled burgers on the boat; which I think is super cool! The side salads were bought at the local grocery store; again time and a place played a hand.  While their pontoon boat did have a gas grill and small fridge and coolers under a few of the seats it is not really a place to make up potato and pasta salad. The burgers were the definite star of the meal.

Since I didn’t make anything worthy of sharing this trip I want to share with you a stuffed pepper recipe that is pretty darn yummy, just in case you have had an abundance of peppers from your garden, unlike me this has been more of a Zucchini year for me but I have shared a couple of Zucchini recipes already; thought I would give you a little break.

1 cup water

1/2 cup uncooked white rice

2 Tbs olive oil, divided

1 medium carrot minced

1 celery stock minced

1 medium onion minced

2 cloves of garlic minced

1-2 sweet Italian sausage casing removed

1/4 lb pancetta diced

32 oz jar marinara sauce

1/4 cup red wine

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/3 cup heavy cream – or use what you have on hand

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese divided

4 bell peppers (any color), halved lengthwise and seeds removed

in a sauce pan bring water to a boil, add rice and stir. reduce heat cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender and fluffy.

preheat oven to 375′

heat 1 tbs olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook carrots, celery and onion until tender, add garlic cook for another minute. Add sausage and pancetta, cook until browned and crumbled. drain off excess liquid. add marinara sauce, wine, and red pepper flakes and simmer 10 minutes. stir in cream, 1/4 cup Parmesan and cooked rice. simmer about 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Arrange peppers in a shallow baking dish, fill with mixture. drizzle remaining olive oil and cover with remaining Parmesan.  Bake uncovered for 45 minutes until the peppers are soft. serve hot.

The filling is very tasty and does freeze well if you want to double the batch, If you did it would make a great week night meal.