Stuffed Peppers, Gluten-free and Vegan!

The first time my husband encountered stuffed peppers was at my Aunt’s house. She liked to make stuffed peppers for company. He loved ‘em. He asked me to make them.

Oy. I had never made them and by the time he asked, my aunt was no longer available to ask for the recipe. I asked a cousin, but I’m thinkin’ he didn’t have the recipe. ;o) So I did the unthinkable... I looked in my favourite cookbook, and there it was! I didn’t know, of course, if this recipe was anything like my aunt’s, but it seemed pretty basic, so I gave it a try. He loved ‘em!

Since then, stuffed peppers weren’t something I made a lot, but at regular intervals, like when the four packs of peppers were on sale at my local grocery store, I’d make them. Everyone in the family likes ‘em, even though my daughter doesn’t actually eat the pepper ... just the stuffing.

Well, recently, green peppers were on special in the four packs again, but our diets have undergone some changes since I first made stuffed peppers. I am gluten-free vegan, my daughter is g-free, dairy-free vegetarian, and my husband just wants the meals he’s always had. ;o)

Ack... it’s like running a restaurant some days. But here’s what I did with the stuffed peppers:

Bring water to boil in a big enough pan to blanche the peppers. Cut off the tops and seed them, then blanche them for about 4 minutes. Remove them from the boiling water and place them upside down on a towel to drain. Using the same pot (to save on dishes... empty out the water; save for vege broth or discard). To stuff the peppers you need:

olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 of the pepper tops, chopped
6 large mushrooms, washed, sliced in half, then each half sliced some more
1 - 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp. Tamari sauce
dried basil, to taste, salt and pepper
1 - 250 gram package Uncle Ben’s Bistro Express Wholegrain Brown rice, no preservatives
1 cup Daiya cheese shreds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the saucepan with olive oil. Saute the sliced mushrooms, onion and pepper for several mins. Add the diced tomatoes, tamari sauce, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for a few mins. Add the rice and warm. Add the Daiya cheese and stir till melted a bit. (Save a few shreds to top the peppers with.)

Place the peppers into a casserole dish. Salt the peppers a bit, then fill with the rice mixture. Put any leftover filling into the casserole between the peppers. Put the few leftover shreds onto the tops of the stuffed peppers. Cover and bake for roughly 30 mins. Remove lid. Allow peppers to rest for a few mins., then serve with whatever else you like.

I served my little stuffed red pepper with a green salad. I served Hubby’s larger green pepper with a meat patty, because he doesn’t really want to be a vegetarian. (I notice he only ate half of his meat though.) My daughter’s larger green pepper was served alone... with some of the extra filling sort of spilling off to one side. Have it the way you like it!

Portion Control and Presentation

I've always thought serving size and appearance are both very important when preparing meals, and it's something that many food gurus don't bother to mention. Serving size and presentation make a difference, not just in how much we eat, but in how satisfying we find our food.

I recently read a post from a friend who thought she could no longer have a certain food, because after eating a generous serving of it, her blood sugar went too high. The thing is, what would have happened if her serving hadn't been quite so generous, or if it had been served with other food that was just as loaded with carbs?

To the right is a sample of the nutrition labeling on foods. They suggest a serving size, then give facts, such as calories, carbs, sugar, for that size serving. Almost every day I enjoy some brown rice pasta, in moderation. What is "moderation?" It's the serving size suggested on the package, or less. In this case, it's 200 calories worth of brown rice pasta. It's also 4 grams of protein, 1.5 grams of fat, and 43 grams of carbs ~ or 14% of my daily allowable carbs.

It wasn't easy to figure out just how much fettucine this 2 oz. serving size was. So I cleaned off my table and dumped out a whole 16 oz. package, then I divided it into 8 roughly equal servings. No, I didn't count strand by strand, but the bundles of noodles were pretty much all the same size... about the size of a quarter when squashed between thumb and fore-knuckle. (Let's face it... if I cheat one day, I get short-changed on another.) So this is how much fettucine I prepare per serving. Similarly, I measure other pastas in a measuring cup. Once you have it figured out how much is a moderate serving size, cook that much per person each time.

Of course, if I served just that much pasta lightly dressed, it wouldn't be enough. It would be a tiny puddle of food in the middle of my plate... like service in one of those fancy restaurants that serve such a wee tiddle of food in the middle of a huge plate, that you feel the need to go eat out, after you've eaten out. ;p

Hence, presentation. How about some veges and hummus in a lettuce leaf? Or a nice big green salad? (Watch the serving size of that dressing!) Now, you see this picture. Doesn't that look good? Well, it's a nice size plate of food! Of course it's mostly salad, with my own dressing, made with 2 tsps. of garlic olive oil, a tbsp. of my own basil vinegar, pepper, dried parsley, and a tiddle of sea salt. I let the salad sort of spill all over the plate before serving up the 200 calories worth of brown rice macaroni with veges and the merest smattering of Daiya cheese. You see, the serving of pasta looks like more sitting up on top of some of the kale from my salad. So when I put this mighty plateful of food in front of me, it looks good! It looks like a lot of food! And by the time I'm finished this meal, I'm full!

Tips for helping you stay on your diet:
(By diet, I'm referring to a permanent part of your lifestyle, not a temporary exercise in denial done for temporary weight loss.. as it often is.)

Use a smaller plate. I mean, obviously it's going to look like less food than you might think you want if you're using a great big plate. Choose a smaller plate for your food and it will look like more!

Let those salad fixin's fall all over the plate... even under the other food. It'll make the other food look more voluminous, and you'll get to it eventually.

Make your own dressings. Yes, there are nutrition labels on store-bought dressings and you can measure them carefully onto your salad or into your pasta, but making your own with superior ingredients can be just that much more yummy and satisfying, and you can make adjustments as needed, like adding dried tomatoes, or lots of finely chopped garlic when you have a cold, or a bit more basil 'cause you like it that way.

Sure, you're on a restrictive diet because of health issues. That doesn't mean you have to rub your own nose in your food, so to speak. Measure carefully, and make both serving size and presentation a regular part of your diet. Do it for you. :)

Gluten-free, Vegan Lasagna

Ok, so it isn't traditional. It's yummy and it's healthy and hey, that's what's important. :)

I use a shallow Corningware casserole for this because the Daiya cheese melts better if it's covered as it bakes. Of course, you can always cover any shallow baking dish with tin foil, just so it doesn't touch the food.

I use Rizopia oven-ready, brown rice lasagna noodles. For them to cook through, start with a layer of tomato sauce (of choice) on the bottom. Then place noodles on top and layer your vege toppings. I use sliced zucchini and mushrooms, with leaves of baby spinach and basil for the first layer. Then more tomato sauce on that and a layer of Daiya cheese. Then another layer of noodles and veges... I put mushrooms and broccoli, sometimes also some asparagus, for this layer. Then more tomato sauce and Daiya cheese.

Cover and bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 mins. Serve in gentle servings with a salad. Yum. :)

(And you know, if you eat meat, the recipe police won't come after you if you add some of that too.) ;o)