Soul Food and Stuffed Peppers

Soul Food:

It’s amazing what a few good tunes will do to your mind and soul. How one verse of a song can take you to a place stored in your memory bank and flood you with happy thoughts. Who needs pixie dust when you’ve got great music at your fingertips?

I just finished teaching a spin class, which took a few of us down memory lane as we took our music selections from a 90’s playlist of good times! Its always fun having a few good friends in class that can share in some of those memories with you.

Next time you're dragging your feet and having a hard time keeping up with some sort of exercise regimen turn on some tunes and grab a friend and get them to work out with you. It feeds your soul at the same time, which is just an added bonus.

Stuffed Peppers:

This week in kitchen adventures I took a stab at stuffed peppers. What an awesome dish, with endless possibilities, I cannot believe it’s not a staple in my weekly dinners! Now my daughter (who is 5) turned her nose up at it but my son (who is 13) loved every bite, even the leftovers!

Now, as I am not one too keen on recipes I don’t actually have one to share, however I can certainly provide the basics as well as a few tips and info as to why I chose certain ingredients along the way (some of which were simply because that is what I had on hand!)

I used 4 large peppers, which I picked up at the local farmers market on the weekend.

To speed things up, since it was a weeknight I cooked a few cups of rice the night before and left it in the fridge to use for a few things. (for the rice I mixed ½ brown rice and ½ Cavena Nuda (aka Canadian Naked Oats www.wedgefarms.ca)

Cavena Nuda is a whole grain, it is high in protein, has a low glycemic index which helps to stabilize your blood sugar, it has a low gluten content and is a great source of fibre

Preheat the oven to 350, cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds/membranes

In the frying pan, in a small amount of vegetable stock (or you could use water) cook a few stalks of celery and a small onion.

Add a cup or so of the cooked rice mixture (depends on how big your peppers are that you want to fill)

½ can of rinsed black beans

2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped

A few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese

Sea salt and pepper

Chopped Parsley

Once the mixture is hot I stuffed each of the peppers to the top, placed them in a dish and baked for about 30-40 minutes, till done

I happened to have some leftover fish so I made this vegetarian this time, however they were choc full of protein provided by the black beans and the Naked Oats.

Next time I’m thinking I’ll go with a Mediterranean theme and use some goat or sheep feta along with some olives and red onions in my rice mixture or maybe Mexican and precook some ground beef or turkey or chicken and add some cheddar or mozzarella cheese.

A few tidbits of interest:

Bell Peppers are a good source of vitamin C and antioxidants, red bell peppers have significantly higher levels of nutrients than green (red bell peppers are actually green bell peppers that have ripened on the vine and are sweeter)

Try and buy organic bell peppers when possible as they are among the top foods which pesticides are generally found.

Rice is a hypoallergenic low allergy versatile grain. Brown rice has a higher nutritional value than any other rice available.

Beans or legumes are often known as the poor people’s meat, however when mixed with grains they provide a complete protein full of important nutrients and phytochemicals, with a high amount of antioxidant protection. I am not vegetarian, however I enjoy a few vegetarians meals each week and enjoy the versatility and convenience that alternate proteins can provide.

So, pick up some peppers or some Naked Oats and dare to be adventurous.