28 Days of Love: Good Eating

Stuffed Peppers w/ Quinoa Medley

Last November, during world vegan’s month, I decided that I would challenge myself to eating vegan foods for one month.  I found that there was vegan foodie living in me and although a vegan diet will take advanced preparation to sustain, its well worth the effort.  It was successful and as much as I thought I could sustain a vegan diet, by mid December, I was back to my regular (vegetarian) diet.

Well, it’s February and due to some online support, I’m attempting 28 Days of Love, a vegan diet challenge for the month of February.  It’s a month to get back on track to wholeness and wellness, starting with finding balance in the bowl.

Here’s something I did tonight with friends who came over for dinner.  With an assortment of your favorite vegetables and whole green peppers of your choosing…it’s actually quite easy to make.

Ingredients.

whatever variety of vegetables you have on hand.  I used 1 small onion (diced), 1 med. sized carrot (diced), 2 cups diced pumpkin, 3 cloves garlic, 1 sweet potato (diced), 2-3 handfuls of fresh spinach, 1 cup mushrooms (diced)

7-8 large whole green (or red or yellow or orange) peppers

2 cups of your favorite beans (I used 1 cup black eye peas and 1 cup red beans),

2 cups of a whole grain (like brown rice or quinoa)

2-3 chilli pepper, diced (optional)

1-2 tbsp brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste or your fave seasoning salt (like Mrs. Dash)

3-4 chives

Process.

1.  Wash whole green peppers and cut about 1 inch from the top and remove seeds.  Set aside.

2.  In a large saucepan, add 2 tbsp oil (canola, corn or vegetable) on medium heat

3.  After oil gets hot, add garlic and let garlic brown a little.

4.  Add two tbsp brown sugar and let it caramelize.  Watch this process carefully as the sugar is easy to burn.  This should take 2-3 minutes but the color should be a medium brown.

5.  Since the sweet potato and pumpkin are denser and likely to take longer to cook, add these in first.  This will cool the temperature in the pot.  Stir and cover the pot for maybe 3-4 minutes so that the temperature will rise.  The vegetables will turn a brownish hue.

6.  Next, stir in 2 cups of whole grain and enough water to cover the medley two times over.  So if the vegetables take up 1/4 of the pot, add enough water to cover 3/4′s of the pot.

7.  Let cook for 15 mins., stirring occasionally.  After 15 mins., add seasoned salt (or salt and pepper to taste), chives, onions, beans, chili pepper, mushrooms, carrot, onion, and spinach.  Let cook an additional 10-15 mins.

8. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

9. Stuff pepper with the quinoa medley and cover with bell pepper top as shown.

10.  Place into oven-safe baking pan and bake for 20-30 mins.  Serve immediately and remember to enjoy.