Stuffed Peppers Two Ways - Meat or Vegetarian

I wrote this recipe to be 1/2 vegetarian and 1/2 meat as lots of times we need both to satisfy a crowd.  If you're vegetarian skip the meat instructions and double or triple the amount of rice .  You can use leftover cooked rice in this recipe or any cooked grain such as quinoa or millet.  If you have leftover meat filling bake it in a small oven proof bowl and use it as a mini-meatloaf  or sliced for sandwiches.

Click on this link to print recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup brown rice, raw - 250 ml
6 sweet peppers, medium - I used 2 each red, yellow and green
1 jalapeno pepper (optional)
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup white onion finely diced
1/2 cup ketchup, barbecue or tomato sauce
2 eggs, medium
1 cup mushrooms, chopped fine
1 cup carrot grated - 250 ml
2 tsp each basil, ground cumin and chili powder
1/2 tsp sea salt - 2.5 ml
1/2 cup water - 125 ml for bottom of baking dish

Variations for this very flexible recipe: grated cheese for top of peppers.  Use any type of spices or herbs you like and have on hand such as Italian seasoning, dill, black pepper etc.  You can also used frozen mixed vegetables instead of the fresh and leftover cooked rice.  Other cooked grains like millet and quinoa also work well in place of the rice. 

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 350'F (190 'C)
1.  Cook the brown rice in unsalted water according to package directions.
2.  Cut peppers in half vertically through the stems and discard inner seeds and membranes.  Keep the stems on as they look nice and help to hold in the filling.

3.  Mix all the ingredients except for ground chicken/turkey/beef with cooked rice.  Set half aside for the vegetarian batch.  Omit the egg if you are vegan.  They won't stick together as well without the egg but it will still work.  Add 90 ml water and 30 ml flour for some "glue" for vegan stuffed peppers if egg is omitted.

4.  Add ground chicken/turkey/beef to other half of rice and mix well.

5.  Fill half the peppers with vegetarian rice mixture and the other half with the meat and rice filling. You can mound them fairly high.  Arrange in a baking dish and add water to bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle over grated cheese of your choice (optional).  The picture below shows the vegetarian stuffed peppers.

6.  Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is set and peppers are cooked through to an internal temperature of 175'F (77'C).

Nutrition Facts (per 1/2 meat stuffed pepper): 160 calories, 7 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 60 mg cholesterol, 21 g carbohydrate, 2 g fibre, 5 g sugar, 250 mg sodium, 10 g protein. %Daily Values are 2% calcium, 6% iron, 6% vitamin A and 200% vitamin C.

Yours in good taste, © Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc.  http://nancyguppy.com/

Quinoa Corn Polenta with Roasted Garlic Red Pepper Sauce

This delicious, hearty polenta dish is a bit of work but well worth the effort.  It took me an hour and 15 minutes to make it including roasting the garlic and peppers in the oven.  The polenta triangles are served over a roasted garlic and red pepper sauce that is a snap to make in a blender or food processor.  Impress you friends!

Quinoa is a high protein, quick cooking whole-grain from South America.  Corn grits are made from coarsely ground dried corn.  If you don't have grits you can use fine or medium corn meal.  Grits are heartier than cornmeal as they contain the hull and germ of whole grain corn.  The toasted sunflower seeds and thyme add depth of flavour.

I packed the other three servings into plastic containers and put them in the fridge for easy-to-grab lunches for the upcoming week.

It serves 4 people as a main course or 8 as a side-dish.

Click here for a printable recipe.

INGREDIENTS: 

1/3 cup Sunflower seeds, raw, organic - 80 ml 

3 cups Water, cold  - 750 ml
½ tsp Salt, sea - 2.5 ml
2 Tbsp Olive oil, extra virgin, cold pressed - 30 ml
½ cup Quinoa, dry - 125 ml
½ cup corn meal (polenta) - 125 ml

½ tsp  thyme, dried (sub 2 tsp – 10 ml fresh leaves) - 2.5 ml
4 tsp Olive oil, extra virgin, cold pressed - 20 ml

METHOD:

1.  Toast the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet.  Shake the pan frequently and stir with a wooden spoon.

Toast until golden, about 3-5 minutes.  Don't walk away from them as once they get going they can burn easily. 

2.  Put 3 cups (750 ml) cold water in medium saucepan.  Add salt and 2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil and bring to a boil.

I used fine cornmeal.

Stir in the quinoa and corn grits, stirring occasionally.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.  

Add the dried thyme (or 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves) and cook, uncovered, stirring often until the quinoa and cornmeal are cooked through - about 20 minutes.  Taste it before you stop cooking to make sure the grains are tender.  The mixture is very thick.  I used a wooden paddle to scrape off the bottom and mix well during cooking.

3.  Stir in the toasted sunflower seeds.

Spread into a lightly oiled 10 x 10 inch (25 cm square) baking dish.  Let cool for 20 minutes or until firm.  

I have a foggy spot in the middle of my lens.  Really need a new camera.  Zooms broken too!  On the wish list.

When cool, cut the polenta into quarters and then cut each section into 4 triangles.  

4.  Heat 2 tsp (10 ml) olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add the polenta triangles and saute until golden, about 3-4 minutes per side.  I sauteed them in two batches adding two more teaspoons oil to second batch.

5.  To serve, spread 1/4 cup (60 ml) roasted garlic and red pepper sauce over centre of plate and top with four triangles.  Serve any remaining sauce on the side.  Garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme or parsley.  The sauce makes approximately 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) depending on size of garlic and peppers so there will be some leftover.  Garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme or parsley if you have it.  I used some parsley I have growing in my kitchen window.  Enjoy!  The recipe for the sauce is below.

Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Sauce (makes approximately 1 1/2 cups - 375 ml)

2 each  Garlic, heads 

2 each  Red peppers, fresh, medium 

½ tsp  Salt, sea  - 2.5 ml
¼ cup Olive oil, extra virgin, cold pressed - 60 ml
1 Tbsp Red wine vinegar  - 15 ml
¼ tsp  Black pepper, freshly ground - 1.25 ml
¼ tsp Red pepper flakes, hot (to taste) - 1.25 ml

1.  Preheat the oven to 375'F.  Use your hands to take off the papery outside of the garlic.  Use a sharp knife to cut off the top quarter inch off the garlic bulbs.  I save vegetable bits like these in the freezer for my next soup stock.  Place garlic in an oven-proof dish and drizzle with a teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil and roast for 45 minutes until soft.

2.  You can use jar or your own roasted peppers.  I am out of the ones I froze from last summer so I used fresh.  I used one green pepper as I didn't have two red.  The sauce wasn't as vivid a red colour as it would have been.  I am a big believer in using what you have on hand.

I cut the peppers in half and discarded seeds and stem end.  Use your  hands to rub with olive oil and place in oven with the garlic to roast.

Below the garlic is baked.  Take it out of the dish to make it cool faster.

I cut the roasted peppers into smaller pieces to get them to cool more quickly too.  The sauce is getting pureed so I didn't remove the skins.  Simpler, adds fibre.

3.  Put the garlic and the peppers in the blender.

4.  Add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, black pepper and red chile pepper flakes (to taste).  I tried it with less salt but thought it needed the whole amount to bring out the flavour.  Blend until smooth. 

Serve with the polenta triangles (recipe above).

NUTRITION FACTS (per ¼ recipe – 4 polenta triangles and ¼ cup sauce): 420 calories, 28 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 37 g carbohydrate, 4 g fibre, 3 g sugar, 7 g protein. %Daily Values are 6% calcium, 20% iron, 2% vitamin A and 200% vitamin C.

Yours in good taste, © Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc.  http://nancyguppy.com/

Early February sunset at Chapman's Landing.

Green Tomato Honey Chutney

I made this chutney recipe from "The Moosewood Cookbook" (1977).    My copy is falling apart as I have used it so extensively over the years.  I like that the recipe uses honey instead of sugar.  It also doesn't have many ingredients so it comes together quickly.  My batch with my modifications to the ingredients made six 1 cup (250 ml) jars - so not too big of a batch.

It looks a little redder here when a picture was taken without a flash.

Click on this link to go to a printable recipe.
With my modifications typed below it made 6 x 1 cup - 250 ml jars

INGREDIENTS:
2.5 pounds green tomatoes - a little over a kilogram
3 Tbsp finely minced fresh ginger - 45 ml
4 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp mustard seed - 5 ml
1 1/2 tsp cumin seed (or ground) - 7.5 ml
2 tsp sea salt - 10 ml
1 cup honey - 250 ml
1 cup apple cider vinegar - 250 ml - I used organic
cayenne pepper, ground to taste - I used 1 tsp - 5 ml

I used a mix of lightly red and green tomatoes cut chunky style.  The other mincing is the fresh garlic and ginger which is not mentioned above.  Not too much work.  Ignore the advice about "cool before packing" (more below).

Stir all ingredients together, bring to a boil and simmer for an hour.  You can add the cayenne at the end if you want to gauge spiciness.  I like hot food so I added a whole teaspoon.

Ladle while hot into sterilized jars.  Seal jars and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.  Don't screw the lids on tight as you want oxygen to escape from the jar during processing.

Remove jars from water and set on cupboard to cool and seal.  I used long handle tongs to get the very hot jars out.  Use pot holders so you don't get any burns.  As they cool, count the pops based on the number of jars you did so you know they have all sealed.  Any jars that don't seal should be stored in the refrigerator and eaten first.

in good taste,

© Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc

http://nancyguppy.com/

Low sodium tomato sauce - slow cooker

Here's a simple way to use fresh garden tomatoes to make a delicious, low sodium sauce that cooks down very well in your slow cooker (crock pot.)  Use it in a multitude of ways such as a starter sauce for pasta, on pizza in ratatouille etc.  Add fresh herbs of your choice.  I used basil and rosemary.  Follow through to the bottom to see the nutrient analysis.

Ready made tomato sauce is often very high in salt.  When I made this recipe it didn't really need salt as the tomatoes were fresh and sweet. You decide.  I did show the analysis with 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) salt for the batch.

\

Makes 8 x 1 cup serving= 16 x 1/2 cup servings = 2 litres cooked and pureed.

36 Italian plum tomatoes
1 cup white onion, diced - 250 ml
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red hot chile pepper, minced (optional)
1 Tbsp olive oil - 15 ml
2 bay leaves, whole
2 Tbsp rosemary, fresh - 30 ml
1 cup basil, fresh - 250 ml
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper - 2.5 ml

1.  Add ingredients to crock of a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on HIGH setting.  After 2 hours and when it is boiling, remove lid, stir and leave uncovered so moisture evaporates.  Cook another 2 hours or until liquid reduced and mixture is thick like that below.

2.  Remove bay leaves and stem from rosemary.  Puree with immersion blender or mash with a potato masher.  Use in your favourite recipes.  It freezes well but is not suited to canning due to acidity being lower.

Below is an example of easy too use suggestions.  I made a garden zucchini ratatouille with some onions etc. to make a few containers for the freezer.

I

NUTRITION FACTS (per 1/2 cup - 125 ml): 40 calories, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 80 mg salt, 7 g carbohydrate, 2 g fibre, 4 g sugar.   % Daily Values 25% Vitamin A, 35% Vitamin C, 2% each for calcium and iron.

(c) Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc.  

Visit my website to find out more about online nutrition counselling. http://nancyguppy.com/ 

Grilled Eggplant Stacks

I have been away from my blog this fall.  Busy with a lot of successful cooking classes and presentations in local high schools, the university and developing recipes for clients.  But I am back at it now and want to start sharing recipes and ideas again.  

Here is one of my favourite recipes I made last summer.  I want to make them again over Christmas.  They were awesome to look at and super delicious!  For a vegan version skip the cheese or use a soy based one or even tofu.  Like most of my recipes this one is gluten free.  All vinegar with the exception of malt vinegar is gluten free (S. Case, RD).  Balsamic vinegar is made with grapes.  Even a white vinegar made from grain is considered gluten free as the gluten is removed during the distillation process.  Malt vinegar is made from barley and is fermented and not distilled and has varying levels of gluten.


Prepare the vegetables on a grill, stack ingredients and heat again until cheese is melted.  You can also make these in the oven.  I first made the recipe when local tomatoes and peppers were in-season and abundant.

# volume	(# mL)		Ingredient
1 lb	450 g	Eggplant (aubergine), raw, upeeled, sliced into rounds
¼ cup	60 ml	Olive oil, extra virgin, cold pressed
1 tsp	5 ml	Black pepper, freshly ground
1 Tbsp	15 ml	Rosemary, fresh
2	2	Garlic, cloves
1	1	Red pepper, sweet, large, cut into circular rings
1	1	Tomato, red, large
2 cups	500 ml	Mozzarella cheese, part skim, shredded
¼ cup	60 ml	Romano cheese, grated
¼ cup	60 ml	Red wine vinegar
¼ cup	60 ml	Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp	15 ml	Brown sugar, dark, natural demerara

Preparation:

1.  Cut eggplant crosswise into 1/2 thick slices.  You need 2-3 pieces per stack.  This should make 8  stacks... let me know.  Cut the sweet pepper and tomato into slices.  Depending on the size of pepper and tomato you may need two each.

2.  Puree olive oil, pepper, fresh rosemary and garlic cloves in a blender.  Use to paint both sides of the eggplant.

3.  Heat grill.  Grill eggplant and thick pepper slices until soft and slightly browned.

4.  Make sauce by combining the vinegar, wine and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 8 minutes).

5.  Grate or shred the two cheeses and mix together.  Set aside.

6.  Assemble stacks on an oven-proof serving platter or baking sheet.  Layer a slice of grilled eggplant, then sweet pepper and tomato, sprinkle handful grated cheese between and do another layer of eggplant, pepper, tomato ending with cheese.  Broil until cheese is melted and they are slightly browned. 

7.  Pour sauce over and serve.  Garnish with more fresh rosemary or parsley.  Enjoy!!

Nutrients (per stack - 1/8th of recipe)

Calories	190
Protein (g)	15
Total Fat (g)	14
Saturated Fat (g)	4.5
Carbohydrate (g)	10
Fibre (g)	3
Cholesterol (mg)	20
%Daily Values
Sodium	8
Potassium	8
Calcium	25
Iron	4
Vitamin A	25
Vitamin C	70
Folate	2
Vitamin B12	13

 Tastefully yours,

© Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc

Chapman's Landing Cooking Studio

Our next cooking class is Saturday February 5th - I'm a Slow Cooker.  Click on this link to visit my website and class calendar for menus and information.