Feed Your Body Friday: Stuffed Jack-O'-Lantern Halloween Peppers
DL Family, are you ready for a particularly spooky Feed Your Body Friday?
Most people tend to cook sweet recipes when they want to create dishes with a Halloween theme. If you’re sick of candy, or if you just want to make sure you’re maintaining balance in your diet this Halloween, you’re going to want to try this one out.
I set my mind on orange peppers since they remind me so much of pumpkins, plus they’re about a million times easier than a pumpkin to prepare, carve, and clean up after. Just a few small cuts done on the skin of a pepper and you have a mini Jack-O’-Lantern! Get your friends and family involved in the prep so everyone can carve their own Jack-O’-Lanterns.
It’s a complete dish: vegetables, beef, and basmati rice that nobody will hesitate to devour. You can vary the pepper colours and even swap the pepper “hats” to make your meal even more unique and colourful.
Let’s get started!
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Total time: 2 hours & 20 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 225g ground beef
- 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
- 3/4 cup sweet corn, (I use frozen)
- 2 orange peppers
- 2 yellow peppers
- 1/2 cup salsa or tomato sauce
- 1 onion
- 1-2 bunches fresh parsley
- Olive oil
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Preparation:
- Heat some water in a saucepan and cook the rice for about 8 minutes. Drain and reserve.
- Peel the onion and slice finely.
- Fry in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Add the minced meat and cook for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper.
- Wash the parsley, rinse, then finely chop the leaves.
- Add the rice, meat, and chopped parsley.
- Mix and rectify the seasoning if necessary.
- Add the cumin and garlic powder.
- Wash the peppers, then cut a “hat” by zigzagging the skin.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Remove the seeds and white filaments.
- Cut out eyes and a mouth into the pepper skin.
- Stuff the peppers with the rice mixture, then add the cheddar cheese on top.
- Put the peppers in an oven dish and bake for 1 hour.
- Serve hot or warm and enjoy!
This recipe is perfect for Halloween, but can also be prepared throughout the year, minus the spooky modifications.
A few tips to keep in mind:
- During cooking, if the top of the peppers brown too much too quickly, use a sheet of aluminum foil to cover.
- If there is still some stuffing after filling the peppers, keep it - it makes a delicious filling in a lunch wrap!
You can serve this recipe with more green vegetables like broccoli, a side salad, or even sweet potatoes for a delicious and excellent source of carbohydrates! These stuffed peppers contain many vitamins - vitamins A, B, and C in particular - as well as various minerals and antioxidants. You have your source of protein with the beef where all essential amino acids are present, as well as essential fatty acids.
What’s your favourite nutritious Halloween treat? Let us know!
