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!