FOOD! - CRUNCHY SWEET POTATO STUFFED PEPPERS!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate tons of delicious food!  I know we did!  The best part was, I didn't have to prepare anything as we traveled out of town!  But, if you did host and over-estimated on the quantity of sweet potatoes or yams necessary to feed your guests, I have a recipe you should try to help you use those sweet potatoes up before they start growing in your cabinet!

Crunchy Sweet Potato Stuffed Peppers
Main Dish or Side Dish
Feeds about 4 adults as prepared below.  If using as a side dish, this would feed about 8 adults.

4 medium-large sized Green Peppers, tops cut off and insides removed

Stuffing Mixture
2 large Sweet Potatoes or Yams, peeled, cubed & steamed
1/2 - 1 cup of Almond Milk
1/2 of a large Red Onion, chopped
2 stalks Celery, chopped
Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to saute onion and celery
1/2 cup dry Organic Quinoa
1/2 cup water 
1/2 cup Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Broth

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Start Quinoa, mix 1/2 cup dry Quinoa with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup Vegetable Broth.  Cook per package recommendation.
3. Prep and steam Sweet Potatoes. I like steaming my veggies in the microwave.  Its quicker, less mess and all the liquid is retained.
4. Prep and saute Onion and Celery together in Olive Oil until desired tenderness is achieved.
5. Mash Sweet Potatoes with Milk, adding liquid from steam dish as needed for desired texture.
6. Combine Quinoa, Onion, Celery and Sweet Potatoes
7. Prep Green Peppers
8. Spoon stuffing mixture into Green Peppers
9. Place Stuffed Peppers into casserole dish and place in oven uncovered
10. Cook 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Prepared using the ingredients above, provides you with a satisfying meal that is free of meat, dairy, soy & gluten!  So it is technically Vegan!  If you wanted to add Parmesan Cheese (or non-dairy alternative) to the top of the mixture after stuffing the peppers, that would taste yummy too!    

The celery, onion and green peppers give the meal a tasty crunch!  And thanks to the celery and onion, additional spices or herbs were not even necessary!  But feel free to add what you like.

Let me know what you think!     

Nature! - Massive Pepper Harvest!

Hahaha!  Now that I have your attention... The kids and I had such ambition and hope for a great vegetable garden this year.  We started tomato and green pepper seeds inside in April.  Many of them sprouted and grew to a decent size indoors on the window sill.  One thing after another happened this spring and the seedlings didn't get planted outside until mid summer!!!  Luckily we didn't have a boiling hot summer and four (4) tomato plants thrived!  The four (4) green pepper plants on the other hand simply survived.  

By September, we were harvesting tomatoes.  I was starting to get concerned that the weather would turn and the tomato and pepper plants would die before we got much yield from them.  To my surprise, October was a great month and the little veggie plants survived.  After some unseasonable warm days in November, we completed a final harvest.  Quite anti-climatic for  me, but my kids were SOOO excited to pick all the peppers and remaining tomatoes.

Let's just say that we learned our lesson this year.  If you want your plants to thrive and produce, put them in the ground before mid-summer!  I hope your vegetable garden was more successful than mine!  Or was your's a fail too?  Please share your experiences!  I'm not here to judge, just to share and learn! #gardenfail