Recipe from Garden Fresh Foodie
Editor’s note: This plant-based recipe for stuffed peppers is full of nutrients, as well as protein and fiber. Plus, it’s gluten and grain free. This would make a great weekday dinner, and you can simply eat the filling over greens or as a side if you want. I always love stuffed peppers and think they’re a fun and attractive food to eat. Enjoy.
Summer Stuffed Peppers
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Number of servings: 8
Per Serving 327 calories
Fat 3 g
Carbs 59 g
Protein 19 g
Ingredients
- 2 cups rinsed brown lentils
- 2 tsp dried thyme, or 2 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 3 cups tomatoes
- 2 1/2 cups small diced zucchini
- 1 cup small diced banana peppers (if very spicy, reduce to 1/2 cup)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1/4 cup dry white wine or water to sauté (we used wine)
- 3 cups chopped kale, or other in-season greens
- 1 cup basil, plus additional for garnish
- 8-10 whole bell peppers
- 2-3 cups tomato sauce
Instructions
- Cook lentils with thyme, water, 1 tsp salt.
- In separate sauté pan, add banana peppers, zucchini, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, wine or water and sauté until tomatoes release juice, about 2 minutes.
- Add in greens and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes, add basil.
- Mix cooked lentils with quinoa and add to cooked veggie mixture. Season with additional salt/pepper.
- Cut peppers in half and fill.
- Cover the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan, like a pyrex, with tomato sauce. Place stuffed peppers into pan and top generously with tomato sauce (about 2 tbsp per pepper).
- Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted goes in smoothly.
- Serve topped with fresh basil, parsley, crushed red pepper, sprouts, and/or nutritional yeast if desired (provides a nutty, cheesy flavor).
Notes
• Packed with fiber-21 g of fiber in 2 halves!!!is important for digestive health, helps to lower cholesterol & blood pressure, as well as regulating blood sugar.
• Fiber rich foods prevent blood sugar spikes, helping your body to slow down the digestion of the food.No oils or added fats, cholesterol and saturated fat free; great for heart health.
• Packed with potassium! 1242 mg per serving. Awesome for regulating nervous and kidney function, as well as lowering blood pressure.
• High in Vitamin C, 225% daily needs-peppers are packed with vitamin C, having 4x’s more than an orange! Great antioxidant for boosting immunity.
• High in Vitamin A, 44% daily needs-tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, a type of Vitamin A, an antioxidant that helps reduce inflammation, improves bone, skin, eye, and dental health, and lowers blood pressure.
• High in plant-based protein, 19 g: kale, lentils, and quinoa are all great for healing and repairing tissues.
• Gluten & Grain free, Vegan-reduces inflammation in the body.
• Kale provides a good source of plant-based calcium (7%) and iron (36%)-both are better absorbed by the body from plant sources. Calcium is needed for bone strength, and iron for improving oxygenation of the blood.
Tell us what you think of this plant-based recipe because we’d love to know.
