My maternal grandfather hated vegetables. He simply wouldn’t eat them, or anything that appeared to be tainted with vegetable material. According to current nutritional wisdom, this probably shortened his life. He was only 96 when he died.

True to her inheritance, my mother also hates vegetables. This bothers me. She’ll be 81 this year and I’m afraid she won’t live to be 181. She also hates to cook. We live together so, if it gets cooked either Stouffer’s and the microwave do it or I do. I use this opportunity to bolster her longevity with a disguised vegetable, here and there.

This isn’t hard because I love vegetables. Although most of the time I steam just enough for myself, one of my sisters is a periodic vegetarian, so I cook an occasional vegetarian dish to keep in practice.

Three years ago she and her family came out for Christmas. She was into vegetables. I decided to invent a luscious, filling vegetarian entrée for the family Christmas buffet. I started a month ahead, for safety.

Oddly, the first recipe I created turned out to be THE ONE. How did I know? My mother loved it! She ate it fresh, then as leftovers. She never eats leftovers! She begged me to make it a few more times, slyly suggesting that it needed “perfecting”. When the Day of the Dinner arrived she announced before we left, “Our leftovers are coming home with us!”

Here is the magic recipe that causes carnivores to join the Vegetable of the Month Club:

Cook the rice mixture according to package directions. If your mix isn’t an instant mix, stir once at about 10 - 15 minutes into simmering to loosen grains sticking to bottom of pan. Don’t be afraid; I know the 11th Commandments is Thou Shalt Not Look At Cooking Rice. Trust me, nothing happens, to the rice, or to you.

If your saucepan has a transparent cover, bring the rice to a boil with cover on; it saves time. Just watch it, and turn the burner low when boiling starts.

While the rice is cooking: Remove stems from peppers and split peppers in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and the white membranes from inside the peppers.

When the rice is done: Preheat oven to 350°. Combine rice, beans, green olives and onions. Fill each pepper half with mixture, distributing evenly until mixture is gone.

Place filled bell pepper halves pepper-side down in 13” x 9” baking pan. Dowse the rice in each pepper half with 1 Tbl herb dressing. Cover pan with aluminum foil.

Bake 35 minutes. Remove and sprinkle each filled pepper with a Tbl grated cheese. Press a black olive on top. Re-cover and return to oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. You’ll want to let these peppers cool a little before serving.

I’ll bet you’ve never read a recipe for stuffed peppers that instructed using a dry pan. Try it. The peppers cook up bright, crisp and flavorful.

Change the game:

• Use a chili flavored rice mix; substitute a small can of chopped green chilies for the green olives; use stalk instead of bulb onions; red, pinto, garbanzo or kidney beans instead of black beans; salsa instead of dressing and whatever cheese you associate with Southwestern cuisine. Don't substitute anything for the black olives.
• If you've got a taste for Greek, use orzo instead of rice, a bermuda onion, a feta/herb dressing, chopped artichokes, lots of torn spinach, maybe some chopped celery and Greek olives. And, of course, omnivores won't complain if you add some fried, crumbled, drained sausage.

I’ve tried these (and a few other combinations) and I have no complaints. Neither does Mom.

When deciding what color of peppers to use, keep this in mind: red bells are the sweetest, green bells are the tartest, yellow and gold bells are the mildest. When going Southwestern, I shy away from the green bells, although they're my choice for the Italian and Greek mixtures. I prefer the yellow and gold peppers when I'm playing around with curry. When I making lots for company, I use all the colors I can find. On a serving platter in the middle of the table, the kaleidoscope is stunning! Too bad there aren't blue or purple bells.

I have to agree, this is one terrific dish. It makes a perfect light meal, or can be served as an all-in-one side dish. Maybe tomorrow, though, Mom, we could have something different?