clean eating stuffed peppers
Water
Sea Salt
4 large red bell peppers (you can use any color)- make sure the peppers can sit upright nicely. remove top, ribs and seeds.
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 cup butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press
2 cups fresh roma tomatoes, diced and set over a fine mesh sieve to drain
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
juice of one fresh lime
fresh ground pepper
cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cooked brown rice in a bowl and let cool. set aside.
Make sure there is a rack in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Place the peppers in the boiling water and cook briefly. the peppers need to be just a little soft. Remove the peppers from the water an dput them on a plate line with paper towels, upside down so the water can drain out.
In a large skillet, heat olive oil and saute onion, carrot and butternut squash. Cook for 10 minutes, covered. Add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Now add tomatoes, beans and corn. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add vegtable mixture to cooled, cooked brown rice. Season with cilantro, lime juice, sea salt and black pepper. Mix with clean, bare hands until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Set aside.
Prepare a small baking pan with a light coating of cooking spray. Place each of the peppers right side up in the pan. Stuff each pepper with brown rice filling. Don’t pack the rice mixture too tightly. Bake for 20 minutes and serve immediately.
You can add lean ground chicken or turkey to the cooked rice mixture to make it a complete clean eating meal. Simply brown one pound of ground chicken or turkey and add to stuffing mixture and stuff as usual.
I also added a can of tomatoe sauce on top to give it some sauce. I used an all natural organic sauce with no added sugar! Delicious!