Stuffed Peppers with Vegan Taco "Meat"

 


I have the last harvest of bell peppers hanging over my head so why not throw some yummy things inside and make a meal of them. Yellow, red, and orange bells happen to contain nearly 6 times your daily value of vitamin C! Talk about proppin' up your immune system a bit, these baby's are super-veggies!

I'm stuffing these bad boys with something I like to call vegetarian taco meat. Most people use ground beef for taco meat, but store bought beef makes me feel a bit uneasy for a number of reasons.
A) I'm almost positive the cow ate some junky GMO feed. If you are what you eat then by the transitive property eating beef makes ME=GMOs. B) This beef is most likely shipped from outside the country. What's that I hear? The beef you buy says 100% US beef? Get this. Word on the street is that beef companies OUTSIDE this country name there establishments "US Beef" so they're able to advertise 100% US beef despite not being in the states at all. Why does it bother me that it's shipped from outside the country? It's not at all sustainable and other countries have far fewer regulations on their farming practices. If an animal lives a crap life, then is killed in a horrifically painful process the animal undoubtedly has gobs of adrenalin bouncing around it's veins. It turns out this actually taints the meat nutritionally. You don't have to be an animal protecting vegetarian-hippie to give a darn about the total lack of nutrition it has. If you love eating cow simply buy local grass fed beef! If you have to bargain shop for your food (like me), buy less meat and use this simple, cheap, and sustainable recipe to supplement.

Okay, I'll go ahead and step down from my soap box and get to my recipe. This "meat" so resembles seasoned ground beef in flavor and texture you won't ever miss the old stuff. Today I'm doing the simplest version of this recipe, so I'm using canned black beans. I normally use both black and pinto beans so feel free to use both or swap the black out for just pinto. The most work you'll be doing is chopping half of this onion :)

Toss the chopped onion into a pot and sauté in about a tablespoon of coconut oil, butter, or olive oil until they appear translucent. Then add a cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water, cover and let cook about 15 minutes.

Quinoa is a wonderful vegetarian protein source. It has a high protein to carbohydrate ratio so it's a wonderful supplement to meat. It can be expensive, so I recommend buying it at a health food store that sells bulk foods. I scored this beautiful tri-color mix from Natural Grocers in Columbia. There is some controversy over the quality of life of the farmers in the Andes that produce this grain and ship it to us American vegetarians. So if the fair treatment of these farmers is something you feel strongly about make sure you buy quinoa bearing the fair trade label.

While your grain is cooking use this time to cut the tops off of your peppers and remove the seeds. I'm using 7 medium/large bells.

Drain and rinse your beans and add to the pot about a minute before the quinoa is cooked. If the liquid has not yet been completely absorbed let it sit, covered, after removing from heat. Once the liquid is absorbed, add a 2 tablespoons of homemade taco seasoning (Recipe to come). 

 

 Stuff each pepper with the mixture and either serve as raw peppers with a little grated cheddar or pop in the oven preheated to 350 for about 15-20 minutes for soft, cooked peppers

I recommend raw goat cheddar for topping, so to keep it "raw" I top the peppers after they come out of the oven instead of baking with the cheese. 

Serve with any combination of avocado, sprouts, salsa, and/or sour cream, and of course, ENJOY!