Stuffed Peppers and an Annoucement

I'm excited, so we'll go ahead with our annoucement first. Do you remember Andrew, my dear friend who shared his Friday Five? Of course you do! From now on, he's going to reguarly share snaps from his life on Ladder to the Stars . I'll still post here as well, and sometimes we'll work together on a post. Andrew is a creative, thoughtful, hilarious, and insightful person that most of you already know from non-Internet life. I know you'll all enjoy his DIYs, recipes, photos and reflections. Take it way, Andrew!~ D

I'm glad to be part of this with Danielle! Over the past few years, she and I have talked about doing something creative together. My posts on here will be the newest fruition. The last thing we worked on together involved a house, a dog, and 47 of our closest friends. We called it graduate school. Now my life involves an apartment, the neighbor's dog, and road trips to see friends. I call it the good life. My posts on Ladder to the Stars will capture bits of that good life. Thanks for having me. ~A

Now, to these stuffed peppers! D and I were on the phone earlier this week swapping stories from the day and we got to chatting about eating well and eating healthy. Two separate, but not exclusive, types of eating. The conversation turned to the classic simple stuffed pepper: both eating well and healthy.

Stuffed Peppers

Less a recipe and more an idea, these are wonderfully adaptable. We've typed it up below, using Andrew's method and Danielle's specific Italian-style filling idea. Below that, you'll find some other ideas that we think would be worth trying.

1 green bell pepper

2 chicken sausages, ground and fully cooked

1/2 cup broccoli, chopped

3-4 basil leaves, chiffonade

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 cup quinoa, fully cooked

Parmesan, shaved or grated

 

 

Heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or lightly oil it.

Take the top off the bell pepper and clean out the inside with a small knife. Set it, cut side up, on the baking sheet and roast for 10-15 minutes.

While the peppers roasts, mix the filling ingredients together. Everything held together well with this mix, but if your mixture seems too dry, you could try adding an egg or a mixture of 1 teaspoon flax meal and 1 tablespoon water. Once the pepper is done, remove from oven, add filling with a spoon (be sure to press down to fully stuff) and top with a bit of parmesan. 

 

Put back in oven, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes. This will really depend on you, I like my peppers a little blackened and really soft. Let cool a bit and enjoy! I had 1/2 the pepper for dinner and the other 1/2 for lunch and it was really filling!

 

Other filling ideas:

Black beans, brown rice, crushed red pepper and green chilies. Top with cool avocado or guacamole.

Salmon, capers, and parsley with a panko crust top. Maybe a dollop of a tarter or a dill sauce.

Chopped spinach, cooked couscous, lemon zest and garlic. Top with thinly sliced shallots.