Stuffed Peppers with Lima Beans, Rice and Dill

This recipe was pretty much thrown together with what I had in the fridge that needed to be used up. I had two red peppers, a cup of frozen lima beans, half a zucchini, a handful of grape tomatoes, cold jasmine rice from the day before and some fresh dill. I sauteed some garlic and onions in olive oil and threw in the defrosted lima beans, chopped zucchini, halved grape tomatoes and dill and seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked everything until the tomatoes and zucchini were soft. I added this mixture to a few cups of rice and seasoned it with more salt and pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. I then cut the peppers in half, stuffed them with the rice mixture and put them in a baking dish with a little water at the bottom. I drizzled a little watered down ketchup and soy sauce over the tops of the peppers, covered them with foil and baked for 30 minutes at about 350 degrees F. I removed the foil and baked for another 10 minutes. They look and smell really good. This is dinner tonight after I get home. I like to cook my dinners in the morning and reheat them later to save myself time. The last thing I want to do at 6pm is cook a meal. Tonight all I have to do is reheat the peppers and serve them with a side of the Uzbek potato salad that I made yesterday. Can't wait!

Detox Week 2, Day 11

I'm halfway there. I'm starting to fall into the lazy trap though. I am tired of eating fruit and salad. I had to force myself to eat a salad for lunch. I saw some chocolate brownies yesterday, valentine's day brownies in fact. It reminded me that I won't be having any chocolate for V-day. I'm thinking about making the fudge carob brownies from Gillian's book for a treat on Saturday. Maybe I'll do that. And maybe a loaf of her butternut squash bread as well. That should help my comfort food cravings. Yesterday I was ok with eating out with family and seeing bread and fries on the table and not touching them. Today my mood is different.

So here are today's eats:


Breakfast: Pear, mango, plum, dates and banana smoothie.


Lunch: Curried Split Pea Soup. My favorite soup recipe from Vegan w/ a Vengeance. To make it diet friendly I decreased the oil to 1 tsp and and added water to steam-fry the onions, garlic and ginger. I used low salt soy sauce instead of salt to season. It was very good despite the unflattering photograph.


Lunch: The pretty salad I forced myself to eat: rocket/arugula, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes lightly drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

My snacks today were 1 date and 1/2 banana mid morning, a handful of raisins several hours later and after a long dog walk I made this...


This is a peanut butter, banana, date, soymilk and carob smoothie. Heaven in a cup. My sweet tooth has gotten the best of me today.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup plain unsweetened soymilk
4 pitted dates
1 cup ice
1 banana
1 tsp carob powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 TB unsalted natural peanut butter
Blend the dates and soymilk then add the rest of the ingredients and blend til smooth. You may add more soymilk if it's too thick.

Dinner was stuffed peppers! This recipe is from the latest issue of Vegetarian Times. It's got quinoa, black beans, spinach and tomatoes. I topped the peppers with sliced olives (to entice my husband who loves olives) and one of them with a tablespoon or so of cashew cheese (Gooda uncheese) for a little indulgence. A nice green salad and a dollop of homemade guacamole made the meal complete. Mmmm. They were delicious and so filling. I'm sitting up in bed typing this right now feeling very stuffed.

'Gooda' Uncheese + Today's Lunch.

I woke early this morning because I had this idea last night to make "uncheese". For lunch I was planning on a cheese stuffed pepper with spinach salad. I had a nice assortment of red and yellow peppers and lots of spinach for a salad. I leafed through The Ultimate Uncheese Book to pick out which uncheese I was going to make. I saw the recipe for 'Gooda" and decided to give it a go. It turned out really beautiful in color and in taste!


Check out this lovely block of Gooda, a cashew based dairy free cheese. (I used an empty tofu container for the mold.)

So this is what I did for lunch. I took a half yellow pepper, seeded it and drizzled some olive oil into the cavity. I stuffed it with a little spinach, sliced tomato and about 4 TB of Gooda chunks. I stuck it under the broiler for about 7 minutes but the Gooda started to burn so I took it out and popped it in a hot 400 degree oven for about 4 minutes more. This is what came out.


I served it on top of spinach salad that was lightly dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. I smooshed the cheese around with my fork because the burnt parts were too ugly to photograph!


Cut open to see the insides. The uncheese is gorgeous! It was spreadable and very creamy. It went very well with the pepper and the spinach leaves and gave it mucho flavor! Some of the ingredients in this uncheese: cashews, dijon mustard, paprika, garlic, onion, carrots, nutritional yeast*, tahini, liquid smoke. (*Nutritional yeast is a cheesy tasting vegetarian food supplement.)


Mmm, mmm. All together on a fork. A very tasty bite.


Can you tell I loved my lunch?

Sephardic Rice Stuffed Peppers

More whole grain cookin'! Today's assignment: make something with brown rice. I want to make sure I'm getting more whole grains into my diet. Yesterday was brown rice pasta, today brown rice! I checked my 'Olive Trees and Honey' cookbook and found this simple recipe for stuffed peppers. It is very basic with very few ingredients: rice, tomatoes, onions, sugar, salt and pepper. I added some garlic, mushrooms and spinach to give it more color and flavor.


I also added tomato sauce for the tops.


Split open so you can see the inside. In the foreground is a cabbage salad with a sweet and sour dressing made from vegan mayo, red wine vinegar, agave syrup, salt and pepper.

Dinner was delicious and very satisfying. I ate one and a half peppers and a lot of salad. (Cabbage is very good for you! It prevents colon and breast cancer as well as being very good for your stomach! So if you have ulcers and stomach issues, eat your cabbage!)

Bulgur Pilaf Stuffed Peppers

I've been trying to cut back on white rice and incorporate more whole grains into my diet. I am hopelessly addicted to white rice as it's what I grew up on. There is always a large rice cooker of fluffy white jasmine rice in every Thai household and we could go through giant 50 lb. bags of rice in a snap! As a kid I would eat a bowl of rice sprinkled with fish sauce as a snack. That's how much I loved it.

I don't cook with bulgur as often as I'd like so I thought I should today since husband was on his own for dinner (he's alright with super healthy food but not always). Bulgur is a whole wheat grain that is usually found in middle eastern dishes such as tabbouleh and kibbe. It's highly nutritious (more so than rice or couscous) and has a mild nutty flavor with a fluffy and slightly chewy texture. I used my Olive Trees and Honeycookbook and made the basic Turkish Bulgur Pilaf and then cooked some onions, eggplant, tomatoes and swiss chard to add to it.



I didn't stop there. I had some yellow peppers (and one red one) in my fridge that needed using up so I stuffed them with the pilaf and baked them in the oven. I made a simple tomato sauce to pour on top that consisted of tomato puree, cumin, lemon juice, agave syrup, salt and pepper.


Beautiful presentation and delicious too!

Stuffed Peppers & Creamy Chili Lime Coleslaw

I made stuffed peppers for dinner last night that were pretty awesome and easy to make. They are stuffed with soy crumbles, corn, onions, rice and tomatoes and spiced with cumin, oregano and other mexican seasonings. I originally wanted to use cooked lentils instead of the crumbles but my husband is a big fan of the crumbles. Next time I'll try lentils. I also made a really nice creamy coleslaw with the flavors of lime juice and chili powder to go with the flavors of the stuffed pepper. For dessert we had banana cake. I used this recipe but omitted the chocolate chips.


Stuffed Peppers

3 large green bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise with seeds and membranes removed
2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 12 oz. bag Morningstar Grillers Crumbles, frozen (you may substitute rehydrated TVP or even cooked lentils.)
1 14 oz. can stewed tomates, broken up and with juice
1 TB taco seasoning, store bought or make your own
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and black pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups white or brown rice cooked
tomato sauce seasoned with a little taco seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Submerge peppers in the boiling water and let them cook for 3 minutes to soften them a bit. Take them out and let cool.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium high heat and saute the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add the corn and cook for about 4-5 minutes until onions are soft and corn is a little browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pan on medium high heat, add a little oil and add the soy crumbles. Stir around for a few minutes until all the crumbles are no longer frozen. Add the corn/onion mixture and the stewed tomatoes. Add the spices and continue to cook for about 3-4 minutes or until everything is incorporated and heated through.
4. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and add the cooked rice. Mix everything until combined. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Proceed to stuff each pepper half to bursting with the stuffing mixture.
5. Place stuffed peppers in a baking dish and spoon a little tomato sauce on top of each pepper. Add about 1/4 cup water to the baking dish. Bake uncovered for about 30-40 minutes or until peppers are soft and tops get nice and browned.



Creamy Chili Lime Coleslaw

1 small head of cabbage, chopped or sliced thinly
1 carrot, peeled and grated or sliced thinly
1/4 red onion, sliced
Optional ingredients: corn, olives, tomatoes, avocado etc...

Dressing:
1/2 C vegan mayo (Vegenaise preferably)
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp (or more if you want) of chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
You may add more or less of any ingredient to your tastes.
Whisk all ingredients together and toss with cabbage mixture. Chill in the fridge for a few hours.

This is what dessert looked like...