I came across some poblano peppers at the store the other day and picked some up thinking I’d stuff them with something.  I was so tired yesterday evening that I had no energy to come up with anything new and creative, so I decided rice and beans would make a decent stuffing.  It didn’t require much thought and only a little bit of effort , which made it a winner in my book.

I also made a cheesy sauce to go on top thinking that might jazz it up a bit.  It’s no secret that I can’t stand nutritional yeast and every cheesy sauce I’ve made before has been too heavy on the yeast for my taste.  To me, nutritional yeast has a very fake cheesy taste (like Velveeta, but worse).  But, I’m not afraid to keep trying different recipes in the hopes that I’ll find one I like (or develop a taste for it).  I did some searching and came across this recipe.  This was the best cheesy sauce I’ve ever had, but I would still only classify it as just OK.  For those of you who have never had a vegan cheese sauce before, you will, in all likelihood, not like this at all.  Not that I’m trying to discourage anyone from trying a vegan cheese sauce; I’m just being honest.

To make these, I used sauteed some onions, red and green peppers, and garlic in a little bit of oil.  When they were tender, I added in some black beans, frozen corn, some jarred salsa, chopped cilantro and S&P to taste.  The rice is a Mexican rice recipe that I’ve been using for a while, only I subbed brown rice for white this time.  I’m not even totally sure where I got it, so I’ll post it here without crediting the original creator.  Sorry about that.

Vegan Mexican Rice

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T canola oil

1 cup rice (either brown or white)

1/2 cup tomato puree (any kind of pureed tomato product will do)

2 cups veggie stock

1/2 tsp salt

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the rice and cook until the rice is toasted.  Add the onions, peppers and garlic and cook until the veggies are tender.  Stir in the tomato puree, stock and salt.  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat.  Cook for 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.  If you sub brown rice, you may need to add up to 2 additional cups of water.  I suggest making the recipe as is and adding water at the end, if needed.

Mix together the beans and some rice (you may not need all of it).  Stuff in the peppers and bake at 425 degrees until the peppers are soft.  If you are crunched for time, as I was, bake the peppers while you are preparing the stuffing.  Once the peppers are soft, stuff them then.