Vegetarian Holiday Recipes: Sweet Pepper Poppers Recipe by Stacey Adams

Need vegetarian holiday recipes for snacking and meals? Stacey Adams is back with her own Sweet Pepper Poppers recipe. Their bright colors and cheesy topping are perfect for holiday parties and football snacks! Whether you’re into Deepak Chopra and the ancient Ayurveda healing system or just looking for delicious hot food to warm your bones and celebrate the season, you’ll love these. Happy Holidays! <3 - Belinda

Hi all! This is another cold weather treasure that makes for awesome snacks on a football Sunday or a meal by itself. The ingredients in this recipe are mostly Tri-doshic friendly from an Ayurvedic standpoint. There are some potentially heating aspects of this vegetarian holiday recipe that might aggravate Pitta a bit; however, on a cold, blustery day in December, you can aggravate my Pitta anytime. :) So, here it is!

Sweeeet Pepper Poppers!!!

Photo & Recipe© Stacey Adams

Ingredients:

Photo Some Rights Reserved (c) SaucyGlo

12 Mini Sweet Peppers

They come in all the gorgeous red, yellow and orange colors of bell peppers, but are small and skinny. Unlike similarly shaped sharps, they are sweet and mellow.

1 cup fresh spinach

Photo Some Rights Reserved (c) AndyRobertsPhotos

1 cup freshly prepared (already cooked) couscous.

Note: 1/4 cup dry couscous makes about 1 cup cooked. If making from a box, save the leftovers for salads. It's delicious! Quinoa can be used, but I like the smaller size of couscous granules for this particular recipe.  

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup celery, chopped small

1/4 cup carrots shredded and lightly steamed

1/3 lb. crumbled and browned tofu

Or ground and browned turkey - I have some hard-core carnivores here. :)

1/3 cup plain yogurt        

1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 small bunch parsley (optional, but sweet)

2 pinches sea salt

2 Tablespoons sunflower or walnut oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

ground black pepper corn to taste

I mill it straight onto the top of the finished product before popping in the oven.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice peppers lengthwise and remove seeds.

Note: I like to keep the 2 halves together by not cutting through the other side. Just cut a slit big enough to open the pepper and take out the seeds. :)

Place the peppers on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Heat the garlic, salt, celery and oil in a pan. Sauté for a couple minutes. Add the spinach to the pan and cook until wilted, but still a lovely green.

Spoon the sautéed mix into the prepared couscous. Add in the steamed carrots, tofu (or turkey), yogurt, turmeric and most of the cheese.

Note: Keep a Tablespoon or two aside to sprinkle on top of the peppers after they come out of the oven for a little "cheese cap". This also serves to hide the veggies on the "inside" of the peppers for the picky, anti-veggie crowd. It’s a Mom trick. ;)

Stir up the couscous mix to evenly distribute everything.

With a teaspoon, spoon the mix into each of your little peppers. Be generous, but try not to overflow the little guys. Sprinkle your ground peppercorn on top.

Pop into the oven for 50 minutes.

Sprinkle remaining cheese on top for last couple minutes of baking, if "cheese caps" are desired.

Upon removal from the oven, garnish the tops by sinking little parsley florets into the tops of the stuffing. Be careful. They will be hot. Place the peppers on a serving tray, and garnish the empty spaces with a few more parsley florets. (It's all about the presentation, donchaknow?)

Report: The entire plate of 12 was gone in 15 minutes, including the plate I used to take the picture. You might want to double or triple this vegetarian holiday recipe. ;)

Happy Holidays and Healthy Eating, everyone. Stay warm! <3 – Stacey

Photo © Stacey Adams

  

Guest blogger Stacey Adams is a Bodyworker, Healer, Herbal formulator, Perpetual student and Mom. She is also the owner and operator of The Woman of the Woods Health Portal. Connect with Stacey on G+. For more information on the Ayurveda healing system, see her post, What is "Ayurveda" Anyway?

Visit Stacey’s previous guest post, Pan-tastic Potato Supper.

Meatless Monday: Pan-tastic Potato Supper Ayurvedic Recipe

Guest Blogger: Stacey Adams

Photo (c) Stacey Adams

Happy Meatless Monday and Veterans Day or Remembrance Day. Today’s guest blogger is Stacey Adams, a Florida licensed massage therapist, herbalist, mom and natural health blogger. She's here to share about the ancient Hindu healing system of Ayurveda, food's relationship to healing and a vegan vegetarian recipe to help us apply it. - BYH

The goal of Ayurveda is to live a healthy and happy life that is in line with an individual's unique constitution. This is done through diet. As the old saying goes, "You are what you eat." Ayurveda takes this one step further. The teachings decree that not only is the physical body affected by what is consumed, but so are the dispositions of the mind, emotions and spirit.

When referring to food from an Ayurvedic stand-point, the first thing that is considered is the taste experienced on the tongue, or "rasa." There are six tastes: sweet, sour, pungent, salty, bitter and astringent. The doshas have certain tastes dominant to each nature. All six tastes should be incorporated into each meal, as it assists to balance the whole. All three doshas are found in all constitutions. It is the proportions of each taste that must be adjusted for the dominance of doshas in each person.

Another thing considered in the Ayurvedic diet is the heating or cooling qualities of food, or "virya." This consideration is not only important to balance the doshas themselves, but also important when considering the season in which food is being eaten. Consumption of more cooling foods during the heated days of summer, and warming foods during the cold nights of winter just makes sense.

One more quality considered for food by Ayurveda are the sensory or tactile qualities of food, or "guna". Whether a food is calming or stimulating, light or heavy, dry or moist, (among many others) can determine whether that food is going to have a positive or negative effect on the constitution. (Tiwari, pp. 57-63) All things considered, there still are some foods that are generally considered to be Tri-doshic when eaten upon occasion by anyone. This generally means imbalance is less likely to occur for any of the doshas if certain things are eaten. It is for this tri-doshic stand-point that I am providing the following recipe.  Hope you like it as much as all the different doshas did in this house!

 Pan-tastic Potato Supper

Photo (c) Stacey Adams

                                                       

                                                 - for a chilly fall or winter day-

                                                       Yield :  about 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 Cups Fresh Green Beans - Snapped into bite-size pieces.

                               Steam-cook lightly, but still maintain firmness and bright green color.

4 medium red or white potatoes - Boil these until soft enough to pierce, but still firm.

                                                    Drain, but set aside 1/3 cup of the potato water.

                                                    Cut potatoes into bite-sized cubes.

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 Tablespoon sunflower kernels

2 Tablespoon canola or sunflower oil

2 pinches sea salt

1/2 Tablespoon lemon zest pepper

1 Tablespoon ground sumac

1 Tablespoon ghee or coconut oil

Instructions:

In a large, tall-sided pan, (a wok works great!) heat 1 Tablespoon oil, salt, parsley and sunflower kernels and saute for a couple minutes.

Add in the beans, lemon zest pepper and potato water. Stir well. Simmer for another couple of minutes.

Add the cubed potatoes, remaining 1 Tablespoon oil left and the ghee or coconut oil. Mix everything together, coating the potatoes well. After 5 to 7 minutes, potatoes should be cooked through, but still firm.

Sprinkle sumac all over and mix once more.

Serve warm and enjoy! :)

Stacey Adams is a Bodyworker, Healer, Herbal formulator, Perpetual student and Mom. She is also the owner and operator of The Woman of the Woods Health Portal. Connect with Stacey on G+.

Source:  Tiwari, Maya. Ayurveda A Life of Balance