Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

Going along with our theme of colorful bite-sized treats, Kristin and I made stuffed mini sweet peppers this week.  We ended up making a ton, so we were lucky that a few friends happened to stop by for dinner.  These sweet bite-sized peppers would make a great appetizer or side dish, and they are so fun to make!

These peppers taste like little bell peppers, except they are sweeter (especially the red ones).  You can find them at the grocery store next to regular bell peppers, and they are typically sold packaged in bags or cartons.

Ingredients
Mini sweet peppers (we used around 1 and 1/4 pounds)
1/2 large yellow onion, finely diced
2 cups finely diced crimini mushrooms
1 5-oz container of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
rosemary
oregano
garlic salt
1 slice of bread, cut into small crouton-sized chunks (we used multigrain, but any crusty bread or sandwich bread will do)

Chop off the very top of the peppers with a sharp knife, and seed the inside of the pepper.

Sauté the diced onions and mushrooms in a generous amount of olive oil until tender and browned.  Season with salt and pepper, rosemary, oregano, and garlic salt.  Transfer to a big mixing bowl.  In the same pan, fry the bread crumbs in any remaining oil.  They should be brown, toasty and crispy on both sides.  Toss the bread crumbs with the sauteed veggies, parmesan cheese, and basil in the mixing bowl.

To stuff the mini sweet peppers, use a small teaspoon and tuck a generous amount of filling into each pepper until full.  If needed you can use the spoon handle to help press the filling in.  Arrange the peppers in a lightly greased baking dish, stuffing-side up, and bake at 375 until the peppers are tender and the filling is bubbly and browned.

We could not get enough of these, and we hope you enjoy them too!  

We'd like to hear from you- have any recommendations, requests or ingredients you'd like to see next?  Let us know in the comments!