Southwestern Stuffed & Smothered Peppers

Howdy y'all!! (Don't mind me, I'm just trying to get channel my "inner Texan")

We are trying to coax the sunny, warm temperatures in Texas to come on up and visit us in Southwestern Ontario. We just got home from walking the dogs and we were both wearing hats and gloves. Come on, I swear it's been 6 weeks since that groundhog predicted an early Spring!!!

We know we're going to have to grin and bear it until the warm temperatures decide to head our way, but in the meantime I decided I was going to make us up a delicious tex mex meal filled with two of my favourite and most used spices: chili powder and cumin.

You may remember that I bought all those mini sweet peppers last week and I still had 6 I needed to use up, as well as a green pepper that was on its last legs. So, I decided that I was going to try my hand at some tex mex-style stuffed peppers. Since the majority of my peppers were minis, I added "smothered" in there because there isn't much room for any stuffing to happen.

Southwestern Stuffed & Smothered Peppers
I had one large green pepper and six mini peppers for this recipe ~ I imagine it would work to stuff 4 regular sized peppers - any colour of pepper will do
1 c cooked brown rice
2/3 c black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 c corn
1/2 small red onion, diced (I used a shallot)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/3 c your favourite marinara sauce (I used the leftover marinara from Monday)

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a baking dish and set aside.

Wash your peppers. If you have large peppers, cut the tops off and remove the seeds. If you are using smaller peppers, cut in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Arrange the peppers in the baking dish.

Look at that gorgeous rainbow of peppers!! Trust me, they taste as good as they look!

In a large mixing bowl, add rice, black beans, corn, onion and 2/3 c of the marinara. Mix well. Add the cumin, chili powder and sea salt. Mix well again.

Fill the peppers, or in the case of the minis, smother them with the filling.

Add a second layer of smothering, by covering the peppers with the remaining marinara sauce.

Alot of recipes smother the peppers in cheese at this point, but I am staying away from dairy right now and quite frankly these peppers tasted so good on their own, they didn't need the cheese.

Bake the peppers for 45 minutes.

Yum - the aroma starts wafting around the house after about 20 minutes in the oven!

Remove from the oven, serve & enjoy.

Unfortunately, Derek is now extremely sick. I wanted to make him something that he loved that was delicious and comforting. I decided to whip up a pot of mashed 'taters. I made them vegan-style using almond milk and Earth Balance. I think they were some of the best mashed 'taters I have ever had! You can see by the picture below that we left the skins on....so yummy and much easier than peeling potatoes!! Even Derek said they were really good (he has no idea what I used in them <wink wink>)!

This was such a satisfying and delicious meal. The peppers did take a little longer than I initially expected, so we ate a little later than usual, but believe me when I say they were worth the wait!! My marinara sauce was packed full of veggies and lentils and it went just perfectly with the peppers, plus it packed an extra punch of nutrition to the meal.

Wishing you all a happy Hump Day ~ weekend, here we come :-)

Andrea



The Perfect Friday Night Dinner: Vegetarian Chili in the Slower Cooker

Whew, it certainly has been busy in our household this week. I must say that I am utterly exhausted! Work has been really busy and I've been working away at a bunch of chores around the house each night. My exhaustion might also have something to do with the fact that I stayed up past my bedtime to catch the latest episode of Jersey Shore. I don't know what it is about these 8 people that keep me so enthralled, but I love watching their antics week after week. Derek used to make fun of me everytime he caught me watching it, but last night I caught him watching a rerun of it in bed and he was giggling away to himself throughout the entire episode ~ he also keeps stealing my favourite sunglasses so he can channel the Snooks <sigh> we are a sad pair and we have no excuse for ourselves, but please don't judge :-)

I am super excited to finish this workday and get home because my mom is coming for a visit and she arrives tonight! My family lives 12 hours away, so I don't get to see them often and I very rarely ever get to wow them with my "culinary talents." My mom is my best guest because she always likes everything I make even if I end up serving a disaster...last time she came I decided to try a butternut squash and rice casserole. We didn't end up eating until after 9 p.m. and the meal was dry and not very good at all. She never admitted it wasn't good (Derek was vocal enough for the 3 of us because he was starving by this point) and she ate it like it was my best meal ever - what a great mom!

This visit, I have a bunch of recipes that I am planning to whip up, most of them have been tested and tweaked, so I am not anticipating any flops. Tonight I decided to cook up a vegetarian chili in the crockpot. That way we will have a delicious dinner ready to eat regardless of what time she arrives. I have been working on this recipe for a while and I think I am close to perfecting it. You'll have to try it out and let me know what you think!

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
1 c. sliced mushrooms (I used crimini)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 19 oz cans of black beans, drained & rinsed
1 19 oz can of white kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 19 oz can of red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 14 oz can of vegetarian baked beans in tomato sauce
1 28 oz can of tomatoes
2 tsp salt (I used spicy Herbamare)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cumin
4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp crushed chili peppers
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add onions. Cook the onions for 5 minutes until they are starting to soften. Add the peppers, garlic and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.

Pour the beans and tomatoes into the slow cooker and mix well.

Add the vegetables and mix well.

Add all of the spices, chili peppers and vinegar and mix well.

Cook on low in slow cooker for 6 - 8 hours.

Just before you're ready to eat, add the brown sugar and stir it in so that it dissolves into the chili. I did this once when I made the chili too hot and I loved the subtle change it made to the flavours. For me, the brown sugar mellows out the flavours and I love the end result!

And when you get home, you'll have a delicious home-cooked meal ready to eat!

Serve & enjoy!

Do you have any guilty pleasures like our Jersey Shore addiction??

What is your favourite slow cooker recipe??

Wishing all my Canadian peeps a fabulous start to your long Family Day weekend,

Andrea