Wild Rice-Stuffed Green Peppers

1/3 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
1 ½ cups beef broth
¾ cup long-grain, brown, and wild rice blend
1/3 cup sliced celery
¼ cup finely chopped carrot
1 (14 ½ oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
½ cup chopped zucchini
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
¼ tsp dried basil
1/8 to ¼ tsp ground thyme
2 large green peppers, stem ends sliced off
1 to 2 Tbsp tomato juice (optional)
¼ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese


Sauté onion and garlic in butter in a large saucepan until tender. Add broth, rice, celery, and carrot. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes or until rice is almost done. Remove from heat; stir in tomatoes and next 5 ingredients.

Place peppers in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain; stuff with rice mixture. Place peppers in a 1 ½-quart greased casserole; spoon any extra rice around peppers. Cover with foil; bake at 350o for 25 minutes or until tender, basting with tomato juice after 15 minutes if mixture seems dry. When almost done, remove foil, and top with Parmesan; bake 5 more minutes. Yeild: 2 servings.