Peppers | Aapplemint

Healthy For You – Stuffed Peppers

Jan 152010

So its yet another stuffed pepper post, only this time its healthy. I was at the gym yesterday, n picked me a weight watchers magazine to surf through while I was trying to burn off that mars bar I polished earlier. I came across this stuffed peppers recipe, which they made with tabbouleh and halloumi. I liked it almost instantly and knew i had to make it for lunch. Only i chose to make it with Uncle Ben’s Rice and feta cheese. Uncle Ben’s Rice is delicious way to support a healthy heart and a well-balanced diet. It’s all natural and 100% whole grains – plus, it’s low in fat, high on taste and is a natural source of fiber. My hubby loves this par boiled rice and I always find myself taking an extra helping compared to the regular Thai or Basmati rice. And the coloured peppers are packed with antioxidants, the more colour you include in your meal the better it is. Antioxidants are those chemicals in food that that give the tomatoes the red sheen, broccoli that lush green, and eggplant that deep purple colour. These nutritional superheros help against age defying, cancer and heart disease. Different antioxidants tackle different concerns. So the best is to include as many fruits and vegetables of different colours in your diet. I found this meal very balanced with the coloured peppers taking care of the antioxidants, the feta cheese – calcium, mushrooms – rich in fiber,protein and vitamin B and the rice – whole grain , and the sharp Thai basil to life it all up.

Ingredients

Serves 2

10 button mushrooms halved
2 tomatoes
2 garlic cloves slices
olive oil to drizzle
2 coloured peppers
1 cup Uncle Ben’s Rice
1 tsp of smoked paprika and cumin
Handful of Thai basil
50 gms Feta Cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 C . Place the mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic on a baking tray, season with salt and drizzle some olive oil and let it roast for 10 mins on the top shelf. Side by side put in the oven in another baking dish, halve and season the peppers, drizzled with oil. Remove the tomatoes but let the peppers roast till well coloured and soft. Prepare the rice as per packet instructions and when ready add the cumin and paprika to them. This tastes really good specially with the sweet and caramelized peppers. Now mix in the mushrooms and tomatoes. Stuff the peppers and add on the feta cheese and basil. Return to the oven for 15 mins till, the cheese just about melts and all the flavours are well infused into each other. Serve garnished with extra basil leaves.

Breakfast All Alone

All, Baking, Vegetarian 71 Responses »

Aug 222008

BAKED RICOTTA, PARMESAN & ROASTED RED PEPPER WITH PESTO

So what do you do when you are home alone, n hubby’s away on a business trip for 2 days ?? …. just spend quality time with yourself ? get that manicure u’ve needed ? call some girlfriends over? or rather hit the town with the ladies? watch a movie, read a book ? …
Well after work, i did watch a movie n got some time to read a book, and i also managed to annoy the hell out of a very dear friend … (hope I’m forgiven) … but what i was most happy to do was cook some vegetarian food !!!! My darling hubby is a hardcore carnivore … needs meat 3 times a day … n sometimes that can really get to you. So when i woke up yesterday i thought, no sausages, no burgers, so salami , no eggs … I’ll have something cheesy. And hence this lovely breakfast bake. Too much effort for one person … hell no ! I enjoy cooking for myself.

Ingredients

1 roasted red pepper, sliced into long strips
1/4 th of a beaten egg
4 heaped tbsps ricotta cheese
3 heaped tbsps Parmesan- the real stuff- grated
salt n pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 a lemon – juice squeezed

You need a muffin tray to begin with …yaya i know mine don’t look anything like its been baked in a tray – but my tray was too shallow, and i ended up with a flat looking cheese melt. So there i have an excuse :p . So grease 3 tins, as this portion makes only 3 and is enough for only one person. Lay the strips of roasted pepper at the bottom and around the cup. Now mix the cheeses n egg+ salt n pepper. Fill the cups with it pressing the mixture down and packing it well. Throw some more grated Parmesan on top so when it bakes it looks pretty n crusty. Bake at 180C for about 20 mins. Cut around the sizes and giggle it out of the mold. Plate up, drizzle the olive oil, lemon juice+ salt n pepper dressing. Top it up with a dollop of pesto. Ready to eat !

BREAKFAST PASTRIES

And this was my breakfast today … some sweet pastries. Can do just about anything with puff pastry. Here I’ve made different kinds – apple, cinnamon n brown sugar pastry, lime marmalade, raspberry n peach puffs. Just roll out the pastry, cut out your favourite shape, then make a light cut along the inside of the shape, so that your corners rise up. Put your filling- you can use anything you have at hand – even jam will do. Give it an eggwash, dust some icing sugar and bake them till they are well coloured.

A Healthier Option This time

All, Vegetarian 40 Responses »

Nov 032007

I was really trying NOT to make a sweet post this time. I’ve been eating far too much butter and sugar lately and the results are quite evident. 2 inches on my waistline and 4 kgs overweight ( U know, they should’ve put a warning … “Food blogging can be hazardous to health – Blog at you own risk !!!” Looks like I’m going to be off sweets for a while now … lets just see how long that lasts
If u guys remember i was supposed to be store cleaning n all as i was leaving. Well my trip got postponed by a few days but yes the cleaning still goes on. Looks like i will be able to use all my stocks after all . My red radishes too are ready just in time for me to start picking and consuming. I thought I’ll miss them all together , but i was fortunate enough to get the first harvest. I had planted them 40 days ago and according to the instructions they came out just in time. At least the first batch did. I still have a some in the soil n they have a few more days before they are ready. At the moment I’m trying to think as healthy as possible, so soups n salads for a while … atleast till my tummy tones down a bit.
Here are 2 wonderful dishes from my kitchen, easy, healthy and of course they use a lot of my remaining ingredients.

Red Raddish, Roasted Red Pepper, Butter Bean and Feta Cheese Salad

1 large red pepper roasted and cleaned and thinly sliced
100 gms feta cheese broken into pieces
handful of black olives
i can butter beans washed and drained
1 bag mixed salad leaves
couple of radishes thinly sliced

For the dressing keep it very simple

salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
juice of 1 whole lime

Now you don’t really need instructions for this. Just place it all together nicely, dress it with salt, pepper and lime juice, drizzle olive oil all over, toss it and dive in. The sweetness of the peppers, the creaminess of the beans, the sharp saltiness of the feta cheese and olives and the crunchy n refreshing salad leaves really makes this one hellva salad … good source of protein and filling too !

Asparagus and Pea soup with Basil Pesto and Pine nuts

1 packet Maggi asparagus soup ( yes i do keep them…just for emergencies)
2 handfuls frozen peas
1 clove garlic grated
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
300ml chicken stock
grated Parmesan for garnish
few toasted pine nuts for garnish
home made basil pesto
Lemon wedges to serve

To start the soup, u’ll need to heat in a saucepan 1 tbsp olive oil. Fry the garlic till fragrant, add the peas and stir well, cook for 2 mins and add the chicken stock and mix in the soup packet. Whisk till well combined and bring to a boil and simmer for 15 mins. With a hand blender, blend to a chunky consistency and add the seasonings. Turn off the heat, serve in a bowl and add a dollop of freshly homemade pesto, grate some Parmesan and squeeze some lime. The lemon really lifts the soup up and brings it a zingy freshness. Together with the pollenta, and some more pesto to go around, its difficult not to fall in love with this combination.

Char Grilled Pollenta

3 cups water
1 cup pollenta
60 gms unsalted butter
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
salt n freshly ground pepper

To make the pollenta, place the water in a large saucepan and bring to boil on high heat. Slowly add the pollenta whisking continuously, until well combined. Reduce the heat to slow and stir with wooden spoon for 2-3 mins until it comes away from the sides of the pan. Stir thru the butter and Parmesan. Spoon into a baking dish/tin, flatten out smoothly and chill in fridge for 30 mins till well set. Cut in squares and grill on hot griddle pan or around 4 mins or crispy.