This is a crowd-pleaser. I went the light cream cheese route and halved the amount to about 3 ounces, and it was perfect. I made sure not to overcook the peppers, and loved their little crunch in contrast to the soft scallops and onions. Regarding the grains component of this meal, I have a long-standing insecurity about cooking rice, and mine still wasnt great even using this recipe. Im on the verge of getting a rice cooker, but probably need one more sub-par stovetop experience to push me over the edge.