Stuffed Roasted Red Peppers

There are a few different ways to make stuffed red peppers, you can pre-boil them, then stuff and bake, or you can pre-roast them, then stuff them. I think the roasting adds a really wonderful flavor, but it really depends on the stuffing. If you are going for a fresh mexican flavor, with black beans and cheese, then boiling might be better. For these, I made a savory Italian-inspired quinoa stuffing which complimented the roasted peppers beautifully.

Roasted Red Peppers with Italian Quinoa Stuffing

Serves 4

4 large or 8 small red peppers

Olive oil 

Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove ribs and seeds. Place on a baking sheet and brush with oil. I used the convection roast feature on my oven, but you can just bake at 400F. (If using convection, 375F will do.) Roast until soft and just starting to brown at the edges. 

For the stuffing:

2 cups cooked quinoa (can be made day ahead)

1 lb bag frozen chopped spinach (or you could use other greens such as chard or kale)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes packed in oil (or if using the dry kind, soak in hot water for 5 min)

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Saute onion in olive oil until soft and just golden, add garlic, stirring until aromatic. Add spinach and a splash of water, cover and cook until thawed. Meanwhile, toss your pine nuts in olive oil and place in the oven for a few minutes, watching closely, stirring once or twice. Nuts are so easy to burn. I burn them at least half the time. (Ideally, I like to put them in the oven when I turn it off, and let them sit for 5 minutes or so. I'm less likely to burn them that way.) When your spinach is ready, stir in your sun dried tomatoes and quinoa. Add pine nuts and stir well to combine. 

Your peppers should be ready now. Spoon stuffing into peppers and top with Basic Marinara. I must admit that the stuffing was so good I made another batch to eat by itself for lunch the next day. Yum!

Curried Sweet Potatoes and Spinach

We've been on a sweet potato bender! Costco has been stocking 10 lb bags of organic sweet potatoes for cheap, so I've been coming up with all sorts of things to do with them. This recipe turned out really tasty! One of my favorite dishes at our local Indian restaurant is Sweet Potato Masala. But now that I've cut out dairy, it's not an option for me. I tried making a vegan version with coconut milk. It was okay. This one is better. 

Curried Sweet Potatoes and Spinach

3 large sweet potatoes

1 lb bag frozen spinach

1 medium onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic (1-2 tbsp chopped)

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Salt

1 tsp curry powder

2 Tbsp tomato paste

First chop up your potatoes into 1/2 or 1" pieces. Put them in a pot of water and boil until just tender. Meanwhile, saute your onion in olive or sunflower oil over medium low heat. When onion is ready, toss in the garlic, stirring until aromatic. Add your curry powder, coating the onion and garlic, and fry for about 30 seconds. Then, add your tomato paste and stir well to combine. Now add a little water (a couple tablespoons) and your spinach. Break up your spinach and cook, covered, until thawed. When your potatoes are done, add those to the pan and stir well to combine everything. Salt to taste. Cover and cook for another 10 or 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

I served this dish with brown rice and Mung Bean Dal.

Vegan Chocolate Truffles

I remember the first time I had a homemade truffle. I was so impressed with my friend for making them! But actually, they are super easy. Traditionally, they are made with cream and/or butter. These are vegan and with good quality chocolate, you don't miss the dairy at all. You can add whatever flavor you like. This year I made espresso and champagne. Champagne truffles are my favorite. Served with champagne, of course. But you could stir in raspberry preserves, other liquors, really whatever you want.

Vegan Chocolate Truffles

~makes about one dozen truffles

1 3.5 or 4 oz dark chocolate bar (72% or higher--the ones I like are 80-85% and have no additives, just chocolate and sugar) broken into pieces

1/3 c water

1 Tbsp sugar

In a large mixing bowl combine water and some ice cubes. Set a medium size bowl inside to chill. Make sure the water is only half way up the medium bowl. You don't want it to splash up into your chocolate later!

In a double boiler (or a small pan sitting over a larger pan of water) combine ingredients. Stir until melted and smooth. Pull off the heat. Pour out into the chilled medium bowl. With a whisk attachment on a hand mixer, whip the chocolate for about a minute. Or if using a hand whisk, for two minutes. It should start to look a little lighter. Chill in refrigerator for several hours until firm. 

Scoop out teaspoon sized chunks and roll between your palms to form balls. You can roll them in cocoa powder, powdered sugar, or sugar crystals. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. They are fine to sit out for awhile, but they will "sweat" and dissolve the sugar coating after a bit. 

To add flavor:

For Espresso: substitute a shot of freshly brewed espresso for half the water, following directions as above. I rolled these in cocoa.

For Champagne: add 1 tsp brandy and 1 Tbsp water to chocolate and sugar while melting. Once melted stir in 1/4 cup champagne. Then proceed with whipping and chilling as above. For these, I rolled in sugar crystals. So pretty!

Basic Marinara

An authentic Italian marinara sauce is much easier than you might think. To the eye, the sauce looks like nothing but tomatoes. But the flavor has a hint of garlic. This puzzled me for awhile when we lived in Italy. Finally, the chef at a local restaurant showed me how it was done.

You smash a couple cloves of garlic. Toss them in a pot with olive oil, heating on medium low until the garlic is golden. Remove the garlic. Let the oil cool a bit so it doesn't splatter. Add tomatoes of your choice. (I like tomato puree, but you can use whole cherry tomatoes, or chopped tomatoes.) Add a generous amount of salt. If your sauce tastes at all bitter, add more salt. Heat until warm throughout. Then, if you'd like you can add fresh or dried basil and oregano. Super easy! I like to add dried basil and oregano if I'm using it as pizza sauce. Otherwise, I leave it plain. There aren't really measurements, but if you must have them: 3 cups tomato puree, 2 cloves garlic, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp each dried basil and oregano (or 3 leaves fresh basil, chopped)