Easy Stuffed Peppers!

As you may or may not noticed, I love my recipes to be quick and easy. So I'm always looking for shortcuts to make cooking fast, easy and fun! Tonight I was in a rush to make dinner as I had just gotten back from training for my 5k and wanted to have dinner ready before the fiancé got home. I looked in the fridge and figured I should do something with my red bell peppers...and then I saw my green chile peppers looking a bit sad... Along with two ears of corn...so stuffed peppers it is! I found some leftover homemade salsa (I'm sure some from a jar would be fine, too) and from my pantry pulled out some rice, kidney beans (sure, why not? I've been meaning to use them for something) and voila! Well, kinda...if you go through the typical route of making stuffed peppers it'll take you well over an hour...I cheated and used to microwave to speed up the process. Of course, not using plastic in it and not standing in front of it ;)

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers & Green Chile Peppers

Ingredients

• 2 large red bell peppers, halved and seeded


• 3 large green chiles


• 6-8 oz of salsa- either homemade of from a jar


• 1 cup of white or brown rice (I made mine with garlic for more flavor)


• 1/2 onion


• 2 ears of corn


• 1 can kidney beans (drained & rinsed, optional)


• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes


• 1 dash each of the following: ginger, turmeric, cumin


• salt & peppers to taste


• homemade vegan Parmesan cheese*

Directions

1. Place two ears of corn in your microwave. Heat for 3 minutes. Peel back ears and voila! Amazingly perfect corn! :) Set aside to cool down.


2. Arrange pepper halves in a square glass baking dish. Cover dish with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the plastic wrap for vents, and heat 4 minutes in the microwave, or until tender.


3. Sauté onions in a small pot. Add kidney beans and cook through.


4. In a bowl, mix salsa & cooked rice. Stir.


5. Chop up one green chile (If you don't enjoy spicy foods you might want to reconsider adding this one)! Remove corn from the cob.


6. Stir in chile, corn, kidney beans, and red pepper flakes, ginger, turmeric, cumin, salt & pepper into the salsa/rice mix.


7. TASTE it! See what you'd like to add!


8. Spoon hot mixture evenly into pepper halves; if they got warm, cover with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the plastic to vent steam, and heat in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Remove plastic, sprinkle with vegan Parmesan cheese*, and serve when ready! :)

Hearty, delicious and healthy! All peppers contain Vitamins A, C, K, Lycopene, fiber, antioxidants that prevent cancer, & improve your immune system!

*I'll add my recipe for this in a later post! ENJOY! ;)