Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers

I have been craving lots of very flavorful dishes lately, with some spice so I created this Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Pepper Dish.

Here are the steps:

Bell Pepper Preparation:

Cut a thin layer off the top of your bell pepper
Clean out the seeds and membranes with a spoon
Rinse out the peppers
Put peppers in a big pot (Dutch Oven) and fill with water to cover the peppers
Put on stove and bring to a boil
Boil for 5 minutes and remove from the water
Place in a baking dish with the opening up, so it will be ready to be filled

Preparation of Rice:


Cook Brown Rice (4-6 servings), takes about 40 minutes to cook

Cook in a small saucepan:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 and a half Tablespoons Minced Garlic (I use the pre minced that you keep in the refrigerator for ease)
Half of a Small Red Onion Minced
Cook the Onion and Garlic together until the onions are somewhat translucent, but do not have the heat high enough to brown

Chop 2 Tablespoons Jalapenos (I use the jarred jalapenos) and add to the onion and garlic mixture
Add Cilantro (can use fresh or dried and however much you want to your liking)

After the Brown Rice is cooked add:
One can of drained black beans
One can of drained Rotel diced tomatoes with green chili peppers (you can just add a small can of diced tomatoes)
Add the sauteed garlic, onions, jalapenos and cilantro

Then in the same pan that you made the garlic and onion mixture add chopped fresh spinach and saute until cooked at least half way.  Probably need to chop up about two cups worth of fresh spinach it cooks down a lot.

Then add spinach to rice mixture.

Add some sharp cheddar cheese and Mexican blend cheese to the rice.  You can add as much as you would like.

Mix everything together.

Add the rice mixture to the peppers.  The amount of rice will probably fill about 4 peppers.  I only made three peppers and kept the leftover rice, so I can make burritos later or mix it in with scrambled eggs for a breakfast burrito.

Once added to the peppers top with more cheese.

I am debating adding an enchilada sauce to the bottom of the pan before I cook it to give it extra moisture, but I haven't decided yet.  The enchilada sauce I would use would be tomato sauce, garlic, cumin and chili powder.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes covered with tented foil, so the cheese won't stick to the foil.  Then I will uncover it and let it cook for about 10 more minutes.

I will post a picture after it has been cooked.

Modern Mexican - Hit and Miss

Milagro Modern Mexican opened about a year ago in the Shoppes in Old Webster, tucked in a back corner a street away from Straub's and Panera Bread.  We were really excited about trying out this place because we love Mexican food, especially Mexican Food with a twist.  This is what I was expecting due to the "Modern" part of the restaurant name.  Also, if you check out their website, they also include a Mission Statement, stating "serving a modern menu of traditional Mexican entrees that depart from St. Louis' standard Mexican and tex-mex fare."


This review is regarding our take-out experience.  We weren't able to dine-in, but we will be going back. Now, I know that most of the time when you order take out, it isn't nearly as good as eating in, but I don't think ordering take out changes the intensity of flavors that the food should produce.  Some of the items we ordered were delicious, but some were a complete miss.  


The restaurant itself is beautiful on the inside.  You would never expect from the outside to find a clean, crisp and modern ambiance.  The wait staff was very helpful as soon as I walked in the door, but I can't comment about service since we did not eat there. 



We ordered Chicken Flautas, Grilled Chicken Quesadillas, Street Tacos (2 chicken, 1 beef), and the Grilled Vegetable Burrito.  I read some other reviews of this restaurant and they mentioned that the serving portions were reasonably sized, not huge.  I would disagree.  I thought the portion sizes were very large and I am not complaining about that.  We got a ton of food, we even had a lot leftover.  


The Chicken Flautas were some of the best I have ever had.  It had shredded chicken, corn and cheese all wrapped in a crispy flour tortilla.  They were not super fried, they flaked when you bit into them and had tons of flavor.  


The Grilled Chicken Quesadilla was good, but not anything spectacular.  It wasn't exploding with flavor, which is what I continued to expect based on the "mission".


I was very disappointed with the Street Tacos.  The corn tortillas were soggy on the bottom and then the top portion tasted stale.  There was barely any flavor.  I was worried because on the menu it says that the chicken is "chipotle".  I thought there might be too much spice, because we were feeding the tacos to our boys, who aren't into spicy things.  Not to worry, the whole meal was bland.  I was not impressed.  It did come with heaping sides of black beans and Mexican rice.  


The Grilled Vegetable Burrito was gigantic.  It was filled with cilantro rice, black beans, roasted corn, grilled squash and spinach.  They said on the menu that it had pickled jalapeno and a couple of different sauces, but I didn't taste any of those.  The overall burrito was good, but again I was looking for tons of flavor.  I tasted a tiny hint of cilantro, but I was looking for a punch.  I am one of those people that loves cilantro, especially in Mexican food and I was very disappointment that I barely tasted any.  I added my own jalapeno sauce at home with sour cream and it made the burrito much better.  The burrito was so big that I could only eat half and I saved the rest for the next day (it saved very well and was still good the next day).  


We did get a few sauces with our meal and a side of guacamole.  I was disappointed with the guacamole as well.  It needed a lot more garlic, lime and cilantro.  It just tasted like plain avocado, diced tomatoes, onion and one cilantro spring.  Again lacking flavor.  Also the side sauces, didn't really add much.  


I give the food a B-. I loved the Flautas and was satisfied with the other food, except the Street Tacos.  We are planning to go back and try the dine-in experience.  


I am hoping that the next time we eat the food, I will get more of a flavor punch.  I like boldness and unfortunately this take out experience lacked it.