SECRET RECIPE CLUB – Stuffed Bell Peppers (Vegan and GFree)

I was excited when I was assigned Allie’s Clean Plate Club for September’s Secret Recipe Club.  Allison describes herself as an Illinois farm girl stuck in the craziness of the West Coast…I am a wannabe farm girl also in the craziness of the West Coast, so we are a good match.

Allie’s Clean Plate Club has a nice variety of recipes, but her Stuffed Green Peppers called to me.  I have been wanting to make a vegan version of stuffed peppers for a while now and this month’s assignment gave me the last push that I needed.  Allie mentioned in the post that this was the first recipe she made for her husband when she met him at the ripe old age of 23.  I love the nostalgia!  It brought me right back to the same time in my life when I was trying new recipes on my husband and all of the nervous energy that went into planning and preparing those first home cooked meals together.

Since I veganized the recipe I did change more than a few of the ingredients, but for the most part, the recipe is very true to it’s roots.  Click here for Allie’s original recipe.

I want to quickly highlight the changes I made… I replaced the beef with Portobellos and tempeh, upped the amount of onion, used vegan Worchestershire (and doubled the amount), used veggie broth in lieu of water (for added flavor), used vegan cheese, and I used pasta sauce instead of tomato soup since that is all I had in the house at the time.

Overall I was happy with the result.  The next time I make these (I plan on adding them to the dinner rotation), I think I will double the rice since my vegan meat wasn’t as dense as beef would have been.  I may also add in some oatmeal or almond flour to bind the filling together more.  As it was, the flavor of the filling was great…I really enjoyed spooning it onto my gluten-free bread.  I even had enough filling left over that I froze some to use as vegan “meat” sauce the next time I make pasta.

INGREDIENTS – serves 4
4-6 Bell Peppers (I used red, yellow, and orange)
FOR THE “MEAT,”  2 Portobello mushrooms & 8oz. tempeh
½ onion, diced
14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp. Wizards Worchestershire sauce (vegan & GF) 
2/3 c. uncooked rice (I used 1/3 cup & plan to double it next time)
1/2 c. vegetable broth
2/3 c. shredded Daiya cheese
Pasta Sauce
salt and pepper to taste

~

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cut the tops off of the peppers and remove the seeds. Cook the peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes.  Note: Once you add the peppers to the boiling water, the water will cool down and stop boiling.  You will need to wait for the water to boil again and then set the timer for 5 minutes.

Remove peppers and drain in a colander over the sink.  Drain the peppers upside down in the colander; otherwise the water will just sit in the bottom of the pepper and not drain out.

Place the drained peppers in your baking dish and sprinkle salt inside of each pepper and set aside.

Loosely chop the Portobello mushrooms and place them in the food processor.  Process until they resemble the texture of ground beef.  Do the same with the tempeh (I crumbled the tempeh as I put it into the processor and then processed it further).

In a large skillet, sauté the Portobellos, tempeh, and onions for 5 minutes until the liquid cooks off.

Stir in the tomatoes, rice, water and Worcestershire sauce.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.

Fill the prepared bell peppers with the mixture and top each off with the pasta sauce.

Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes.
Allie likes to serve these Stuffed Peppers over mashed potatoes…I served mine with a nice slice of Millet and Flax Italian bread from Sami’s Bakery.

For a printable version of this recipe click here.