Recipe: Peppers Stuffed with Vegetables and Rice

Vegetables Stuffed with Flavor
From the American Institute for Cancer Research

Every cook can use some new ideas for preparing vegetables. Achieving the recommended five or more servings of vegetables and fruits each day can be much easier if you have a strong repertoire of varied and tasty recipes. Stuffed vegetables offer a savory solution.

While stuffed vegetables often appear as an appetizer or side dish, they can also serve as an entree, artfully packed with wholesome ingredients including grains, poultry, fish, lean meat or even other vegetables. They're also a great way to use up leftovers.

Delight your family with big red tomatoes stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, some turkey sausage for flavor and a sprinkle of grated, part-skim mozzarella cheese. Or, serve up roasted chiles stuffed with brown rice and pinto beans, smothered in a low-fat chile sauce.

Potatoes are prime for stuffing. Cut the tops off slightly cooled baked potatoes, gently scoop out the pulp, leaving 1/4 inch all around the edges and bottoms. Fill with a mixture of diced steamed vegetables, such as zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, scallions, peppers, broccoli, corn or peas, seasoned with dill weed, salt and pepper. Bake again until heated through.

Stuffed peppers are a favorite in many ethnic cuisines from the Balkans to Latin America. Stuffings can be prepared with rice, vegetables, meat, bread crumbs, bulgur wheat or corn. For a taste of North Africa, prepare a bell pepper stuffing from white rice, pine nuts, currants and chopped tomatoes, seasoned with dried mint, allspice and ground pepper. When stuffing celery sticks, skip the cream cheese and use an Eastern Mediterranean stuffing made with ground turkey, rice, cilantro and garlic.

Winter squash is great for stuffing. Cut an acorn or butternut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and bake until just tender. Stuff with a mixture of wild rice and sauteed mushrooms, onions and celery, seasoned with parsley, thyme, and chives. Add toasted chopped nuts and fill the squash cavities. Cover with foil and bake until heated through.

Other popular vegetables for stuffing include tomatoes, eggplant, artichokes, onions and mushrooms. Don't forget cabbage leaves, which make a great wrapping for your favorite filler.

So what are you waiting for? Pick a favorite vegetable, decide on a stuffing, and you're well on your way to an easy-to-make, nutritious, flavor-filled meal.

PEPPERS STUFFED WITH VEGETABLES AND RICE

1/2 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried thyme
2 cups canned diced tomatoes
1 cup tomato pur e
4 cups cooked brown rice
6 bell peppers
For Sauce: 3 cups of your favorite low-fat tomato-based pasta sauce

Filling: In a skillet, cook the onion, celery, carrot and zucchini in the water, stirring. Add the salt, basil and thyme. When the carrot is soft, add the tomatoes and tomato pur e. Simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and set aside. Cut the bell peppers in half length-wise; remove seeds.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spoon the filling into the pepper halves. Arrange the stuffed peppers in a baking dish and cover with the pasta sauce. Bake 30 minutes.

Each of the six servings contains 270 calories and 2 grams of fat.