Italian Orzo Stuffed Peppers

I have a confession to make… when it comes to dating one of my prerequisites with a guy is that he can COOK! Yes, I know how to cook – however it’s so nice when you can work in the kitchen with someone who means a lot to you and create a great meal together. Not to mention, it’s also nice to have someone cook for you once in awhile without you always having to be the one to cook. Last weekend we were both getting hungry at dinnertime, instead of us going out to dinner my boyfriend looked through his cookbook for something we could make together. He ended up finding the Italian Orzo Stuffed Peppers recipe, so we promptly headed to Kroger to gather the ingredients we needed. These stuffed peppers were so much better than I thought they would be, so obviously I had to share the recipe with all of you. We paired our peppers with Texas toast garlic bread.

Italian Orzo Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
4 red bell peppers
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 pound Italian sausage
8 oz. (about 1 cup) Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
8 oz. (about 1 heaping cup) orzo noodles cooked and cooled
8 oz. ricotta cheese
4 oz. grated mozzarella cheese
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan
2 Tablespoons pizza seasoning

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cut tops off peppers.
3. Deseed peppers.
4. In a sauté pan over medium heat, add onion, garlic and onion.
5. Sauté for 2 minutes
6. Add sausage and cook through.
7. Add tomato and cook 2 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
9. In a bowl combine orzo noodles, cheeses and seasoning.
10. Add noodle mixture to sausage mixture.
11. Stir to combine.
12. Stuff peppers.
13. Bake until heated through – about 30 minutes.
14. Enjoy.