Stuffed peppers, a great run, and a scary story

Phew!  I am tired today!  It's been a very busy couple of weeks!

But I got a great 9.27 mile run in this morning with my best running pal, Copper.  That seemed to make everything a little better.

Of our three dogs, she's the only one who will tolerate a run longer than 4 miles, and I'm doing a challenge this weekend where I'm running a half-marathon, split into two days.  Tomorrow's run will only be 4 miles, so all three dogs will be invited.

I had initially planned to only do 8.5, but I was feeling so good I missed my planned turnaround point!  That's dangerous on these long runs- because then during the last mile I start to really feel it.  The part of me that gets sore on these long runs is my hips, so I actually stopped twice during the second half of today's run to stretch, and I really think that helped- I'm feeling great tonight.

This evening, Rob and I are going to stay in and watch a scary movie!  I like slightly scary movies, but not too scary, do you know what I mean? My problem is that I have a great imagination, and I've read too many books.

This morning, after my run, when I was taking a shower, the light bulb in the bathroom burned out, leaving me in total darkness with conditioner in my hair.  My first thought was to just continue showering- I was pretty much just down to the rinse cycle anyway.  But my second thought was- if I were the type of person to get scared, I would imagine really terrible things, and then freak myself out!  Of course then my brain went to thinking about what I could imagine...

I stayed sensible, and finished my shower without getting scared, though.  It came down to the fact that if something scary DID happen, I would just have to deal with it anyway, regardless of if I could anticipate that fluttering towel, or shadow across the room.  That didn't stop me from thinking thoughts like "oh, if I felt something touch my arm right now- that would be really terrible" or "huh- I wonder if I heard the floor creak right now if I would scream?"  Gah!

Silly, huh?  I wondered to myself if I would have thought such scary things were possible if I'd never read any scary books.  Sure, I think humans will naturally invent ideas to scare themselves; through media, though- movies and books and the like, we share our scary thoughts with each other- compounding our arsenal to think about when the lights go out.

This is not just a food blog, you see!

On that scary note- are you participating in All Hallows Read? #allhallowsread

All Hallows Read is a tradition invented by one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, a few years back, in which you give scary books to people you love on Halloween.  This year, I'm sharing some scary ones with some of my favorite readers.  Not telling, though. It's a surprise.

You can check Mr. Gaiman explaining it at allhallowsread.com

Anyway.... On to tonight's recipe.

Rice, Mushroom, and Seitan Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
1 c. brown rice
2.25 c. water
1 pkg. Upton's Italian Seitan
1 c. diced Crimini Mushrooms

0.25 c. Pine nuts
1 tomato, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced

1 c. Kale, chopped
Cilantro to garnish
4 Green Peppers



Cook the rice first by placing the rice and water in a saucepan and bringing it to a boil, then giving it a quick stir, lowering the heat, and covering, cooking on low for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350, and cut the tops off of the peppers, de-seeding them, and cutting out any of the weird inside white pieces.

Toast the pine nuts with garlic in a little olive oil over medium heat.  

As soon as the nuts start to turn the slightest shade of tan, add the seitan and mushrooms, and after 5 minutes, add the kale and tomatoes. Cook an additional 5 minutes over medium heat.

After the rice is done cooking, mix in the seitan, mushrooms, tomato, pine nuts and garlic, then spoon into the peppers in a baking dish.

Bake for 45 minutes, and top with cilantro just before serving.

Pair with a Merlot.