Around this time of year, we start seeing bags of sweet mini bell peppers pop up at every local grocery, and every year I buy a bag and stuff them with something. One time I did wild rice with parmesan cheese, another time it was saffron quinoa. This time, I bought these babies with the intention of trying something new. It was time to create my family dinner book club menu for The Littles and I still had this bag in my fridge waiting to be used. When thinking about what filling the girls would most appreciate, my first thought turned to pizza. We have pizza and movie night every Friday, and it is always the most exciting dinner for them. They are pretty great eaters, but c’mon, it’s pizza!

We have a favorite NY-style pizza place which delivers to us so that is our go to, but sometimes I try to make our pizzas. We have done everything from fluffy crust, to thin, to pizza bagels, to english muffin pizzas, and used every other bread imaginable as the crust. Moving on to veggies as the base for our pizzas seems like the next natural step in experimentation. How cute are these little guys?! Covering just about anything in gooey, melted cheese will get me to at least try it if not love it. You can use regular bell peppers instead of the minis, but I bet the minis will be an easier sell if you’re making these for kids. They also make a fun party appetizer. You can use any pizza toppings you love. Mushrooms and black olives happens to be my favorite so that is what I used here.

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Mini Bell Pepper Pizza

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Ingredients

• 1 pound mini sweet bell peppers
• pizza sauce
• mozzarella cheese
• favorite pizza toppings (i.e. pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, sausage...)

Instructions

1. Slice the bell peppers in half lengthwise and place them on a baking sheet.
2. Add a dollop of pizza sauce into the well of each pepper half, about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon each. Then top with mozzarella cheese and desired toppings.
3. These are mini bell peppers, so you will likely need to finely chop any toppings you're using. For mushrooms, place them under the cheese so they don't dry out while baking.
4. Set the oven to broil, and cook the bell pepper pizza until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5-7 minutes.

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