Stuffed Red Peppers with Leeks, Corn & Smothered Black Beans

How cute are these baby peppers!? They were just demanding to be charred and stuffed.

Sweet, tender grilled red peppers stuffed with mashed sweet potato, grilled corn and leeks over a bed of smothered black beans.

Sweet Potato Stuffed Peppers with Leeks & Corn
1 large sweet potato, peeled, small dice
2 tbl coconut oil
15 small red peppers
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 leek
salt and pepper
2 tbl minced chives

Preheat the oven to broil or a grill top on high.
Boil the sweet potato in salted water until tender. Drain and mash with coconut oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Drizzle the peppers with 1 tbl of oil and grill until lightly charred.
Toss the corn and leek with 1 tbl of oil and broil on a baking sheet until lightly charred.
Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, slit down the center and remove the seeds.
Combine the corn and sweet potato and stuff in the peppers. Garnish with chives.

 Smothered Black Beans
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1 tomato, seeded, small dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-15oz can black beans, undrained
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
1 cup water

Saute the onions and tomato in olive oil for 5 minutes or until the onion starts to brown and soften. Add the garlic and once it has toasted, add the beans, salt, cumin and cayenne. Cook for 10 minutes until most of liquid has been absorbed.
Mash the mixture until half of the beans are broken up and add the water. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Taste and season.

Sloppy Peps

This recipe is great for leaving in the crock pot while you're at work or doing errands. You get all the smokey-sweet flavors of sloppy joes but in a green pepper instead of a bun. Adding carrots and sweet potatoes in the mix packs this dish with vitamins but is easily hidden from kids (or husbands).

Sweet potatoes, red peppers, carrots and vegan beef crumbles simmered in a sweet and smokey tomato sauce and packed in a green bell pepper.
Crock pots win again!

Sloppy Peps
serves 4
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 spanish onion, small dice
1 carrot, small dice
1 cup small dice sweet potato
1 red bell pepper, medium dice
1 tbl garlic powder
1 tbl chile powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
12 oz Smart Grounds vegan beef crumbles
2 tbl organic light brown sugar
1 tbl vegan worcestershire sauce
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbl plus 1 tsp tomato paste
1-15oz can diced tomatoes
4 green bell peppers
1-15oz can tomato sauce
2 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper
2 tbl chopped fresh parsley

Preheat a crock pot on high.
In a large pot, saute the onion and carrot until soft and fragrant, 5 minutes. Add the sweet potato and red bell pepper and saute 3 minutes more. Add the garlic powder, chile powder, red pepper flakes, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Stir to combine and cook seasonings for 2 minutes. Add the beef crumbles and lightly brown, 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, mustard, tomato paste and diced tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.
Cut the tops of of each green bell pepper and hollow out the inside. Fill each pepper with the filling mixture, packing in tight and overflowing slightly.
Pour the tomato sauce and vegetable broth into the bottom of the crock pot. Add 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and stir to combine.
Place the peppers in the crock pot and cover. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
Sprinkle with parley and serve.

Stuffed Onions in Peppers, Barbecue Cauliflower Filling

This idea originally came from not being able to make up my mind. I wanted to do a stuffed onion, but I also wanted a stuffed pepper, so I thought why not "turducken style" it and stuff cauliflower inside an onion inside a green pepper. Talk about trying to cram as many vegetables as possible into this one pot meal.

Sweet and salty cauliflower and red pepper with vegan ribs, stuffed inside a roasted onion, stuffed inside a green bell pepper, slow roasted and simmering in a rich tomato and red bean gravy until everything cooks into one bubbly, tender dish. So tender it "falls off the bone!"...what bone?

Stuffed Peppers and Onions with Barbecue Cauliflower filling

2 small Spanish onions
4 tbl extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 cup minced cauliflower
3 tbl minced red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
3 tbl vegetable broth
1 Morning Star riblet, thawed and cut into small chunks
2 green bell peppers
1-15oz can crushed tomatoes
1-15oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbl organic brown sugar
1 tbl apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper

First, roast your onions to get them tender.
Preheat the oven to 425.
Peel the onions and slice a thin layer off the core bottom so it stands up straight. Slice a thick top off and peel out most of the onions except the thickest 2-3 layers. Drizzle the insides with 1 tbl of olive oil. Sprinkle the inside and outside with a little salt.
Lay the onions in a baking pan, cut sides up. Pour in 1 inch of hot water around the onions, cover and roast for 35 minutes. Set aside and prepare the onion filling.
Pour the water out of the dutch oven and heat 2 tbl of oil in it over medium-high heat. Saute the minced cauliflower and red pepper with 1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper until soft, 10 minutes. Add the garlic and fresh rosemary and cook 2 minutes more. Deglaze the pot with vegetable broth and add the riblet plus the sauce that comes with it in the packet.
Cut a top off the green peppers and remove all the membranes. If needed, slice a very thin layer off the bottom of the peppers so it will stand up. Drizzle 1 tbl of oil in the peppers and sprinkle the inside with salt.
Stuff the onions with the BBQ cauliflower mixture. Place the onion inside the seasoned green pepper. Set aside and make the sauce in the same pot.
Add the tomatoes, beans, sugar and vinegar to the pot. Make sure to scrape up everything thats on the bottom of the pan. That's flavor country right there.
Bring to a simmer and season with salt and add the rosemary sprig. Once simmering, add the green peppers in the tomato and bean sauce and cover the pot.
Reduce the heat to 350. Slow roast for 45 minutes, basting the pepper with more sauce every 15 minutes until the pepper has softened.