Locavore Gets Cooking!

 
 
 

This morning the harvest was bountiful… lots of green peppers, jalapenos, onions galore, zucchinis in the afternoon that I had missed in the morning, and even an English cucumber—the long kind. Grew that from heirloom seed! My first red cabbage and some carrots that are filling out nicely along that long taproot. (Only some vegetables are shown below.)
 

 
Anyway, when thinking about what to make for dinner, my locavore vegetarian mind kicked in… I thought of how my mom used to make stuffed green peppers. Of course, she used to use ground beef and rice with tomato sauce in her recipe. As Dan says, it was probably the only version allowed back then in Huron County, MI. It was enough to get my gears going… I came up with a Jane’s original and I have to say… it was yum!

 
Jane’s Vegetarian Locavore Stuffed Green Peppers
 
1 shredded zucchini (I used a large one)
1 shredded onion
2 bulbs garlic, crushed
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2-1 cup parboiled dahl beans
Italian herbs, to taste
Sea salt, a general pinch or two
Fresh ground pepper
16 oz. can tomato sauce
1-2 jalepenos, diced after seeds removed
6 green peppers, cut off tops and remove seeds and the pithy parts, rinse
Olive oil—for the pan and a bit in the recipe.
 
Boil for 10-15 minutes the dahl beans until they are al dente. (They can finish cooking in the oven later.) Mix the stuffing ingredients in a bowl. In a pan of hot water, (I used the same hot water that I had from cooking the dahl beans), parboil the green peppers just for a few minutes to soften them a bit.
 
Place parboiled green peppers in a pyrex baking dish that has been pre-oiled. Spoon in the stuffing mixture into each green pepper. Heap it up a bit on top to give it that generous look. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top, if desired. With the remaining stuffing mix I had I spooned it around the green peppers and baked it too as it could serve as extra sauce when plating the food.
 
I baked them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 1 hour, covered with aluminum foil.
 
Additionally, I made a red cabbage cole slaw with grated carrots, onions, and some raisins. I made a basic slaw sauce of mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Mixed it around and poured it on the slaw. Mixed that thoroughly and refrigerated while the peppers baked. In the meantime, I also made some lemonade with 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup lemon juice, and the remaining 2 quart container with cold 9.5 pH water. Stir until mixed and then serve with the meal.
 
I have to say that we ate it first and then I considered blogging about the recipe because it’s a keeper. 
Here’s what’s left of the green pepper dish…
 

 
mmmmm…. it was a Bon Appetit!
If you come up with some good recipes, feel free to share. It was fun creating this one.
 
Eat well and be well.