Is my life only about food?

I have been doing a lot of cooking lately.  Trying new recipes and all that, and that is good but John and I still have been going out to eat too much.  Weekdays we are really good about cooking at home, but come Friday night we don't want to cook.  So my food budget and my going out budget have been taking a hit.

I am pretty proud how I have been making use of leftovers from recipes.  For ex. I made some vegetarian stuff peppers, and had a ton of filling leftover so I made bean burgers with it.  Frankly John like the bean burgers better then the stuffed peppers.  Then just this last Friday I had a ton of leftover filling from Jamie Oliver's Steamed Asian Chicken "Parcels", so we made Asian chicken nuggets (breaded them with panko) and it turned out pretty yummy.  My mom was pretty notorious for making leftovers last, and I think I inherited that trait too.

My favorite things I have cooked lately:

Jamie Oliver's Steamed Asian Chicken "Parcels"
Chili-Glazed Tofu over Asparagus and Rice
Spanish Chickpea and Spinach Stew

Still trying to eat more veggies and less meat, so have been eating a salad with dinner and making sure to have a veggie in addition to the main dish.  John as always pretty much looses weight by just eating healthy.  Me, I need to get back into my exercise habit especially with the warrior dash coming up on 6/30/2012.

My personal recipe for (mostly) vegetarian stuffed peppers:

(mostly) Vegetarian Italian Inspired Stuffed Peppers

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 cup beef broth
2 cups prepared marinara sauce, or other tomato sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

For the peppers:
1 can navy beans or combo navy and northern (drained and rinsed)
1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/4 cup finely grated "real" Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano)
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced very fine
1 can 10-oz diced tomatoes, (reserve liquid then add if needed to filling if looks dry, or use rest of marinara sauce from jar)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne
3 large green bell peppers

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350.
2.  Saute onion for 4-5 minutes.  Reserve half.
3.  Add beef broth, marinara sauce, balsamic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to pan with half portion of onion.  Stir to combine.  Simmer for 5 minutes, then transfer into casserole dish.
4.  In mixing bowl combine beans, Italian seasoning, garlic and tomatoes.  Stir to combine.  Then add rice, salt, pepper, Parmesan, and cayenne.
5.  Cut peppers longwise in half, making sure the flat side is on the bottom.  Remove seeds and pith from pepper.  Firmly stuff with filling, then add peppers to the casserole dish with the braising sauce. Cover with foil.
6.  Bake peppers for 20 minutes covered.  Remove foil, bake another 15 minutes uncovered.