Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Okay, so these were a date night invention. I thought they were pretty darn good. When we feed them to the missionaries, they asked for the recipe. Here goes...

1.5 cups wild rice, uncooked
6 sweet red peppers
2 red onions
1-2 tsp. olive oil
4 (or so) large cloves garlic
3/8 cup walnuts, chopped
2 oz. dried apricots, chopped
5 oz. gorgonzola crumbles

Prepare rice as directed.

While rice is cooking, caramelize onions in olive oil. Add garlic once onions begin to soften and turn a nice brown.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Once onions and garlic are nice and caramelized, cut tops off peppers. Hollow out seeds and rind.

Add rice to onions. Mix in apricots and walnuts and gorgonzola. Stuff peppers with rice mixture and place tops back on.

Put peppers in 9x13 dish and fill 1/2 inch full of water. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake for 15 more minutes, or until tops are brown to black.

Browned Butter Caramels

I got this recipe from foodnessgracious.com, and it is the best caramel I've ever made.  The flavor is superior to regular homemade caramel.

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla

Grease an 8×8 pan.  Melt the butter and continue to cook until golden brown.  The darker the color, the richer the flavor, but be careful not to let it burn!  Once browned, add sugar, cream, and corn syrup. Cook until 245 degrees on a candy thermometer, more or less depending on altitude and chewiness desired.  I take mine off at 240 degrees.  Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into prepared pan and cool.  Once cooled, cut into squares and wrap pieces.  Store in a covered container.