Peppers Stuffed with Mushrooms, Peas and Arugula

I like sweet bell peppers.  A lot.  And I like to roast and stuff them.  A lot.

Many recipes call for stuffing raw peppers and then roasting them until done.  I tend yo prefer to roast the empty peppers first, and then stuff them with a fully cooked filling.  My reasons are twofold: 1) because it eliminates the potential for burning the outsides while risking an undercooked filling inside, and 2) rice and quinoa and other grains in the stuffing will dry out on the top and become hard unless you have some sort of bread crumb or cheese topping.  Well, I'm gluten-free, so I skip the bread crumbs, and as much as I LOVE cheese, sometimes it's just not needed.  (Gasp, did I just say that?)

Peppers Stuffed with Mushrooms, Peas and Arugula


Ingredients:

• olive oil in a mister
• 4 red, yellow or orange bell peppers
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/4 onion, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1.5 cups mushrooms, sliced
•  2ish cups brown rice, cooked
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup arugula
• salt & pepper

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.   Spray a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
• Cut the tops off the bell peppers and discard.  Remove seeds and membranes.  Place peppers cut-side down onto the oiled sheet and roast for 15 - 20 minutes until soft.
• Meanwhile, heat coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  Sweat the onion until soft.  Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds until fragrant.  
• Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until soft.  Add the rice and peas and continue cooking and stirring, until everything is heated through.
• Add the arugula and salt & pepper to taste.  Stir until arugula is wilted.
• Remove the peppers from the oven and divide the stuffing mixture evenly into them.
• Serve hot.

Peas and Scallion Soup

Last week's CSA farm box contained a large bunch of scallions.  What to do with a big bunch of scallions?  I did a Google search and came up with this recipe.  I made a few changes, only because I don't have fresh English peas, tofu or cilantro on hand.  And I had a container of sliced button mushrooms that I tossed in because they needed to be used.

The soup came out surprisingly good.  I'm usually not a  huge fan of scallions/onions.  I mean, I'll saute them into other dishes or use them as garnish, but I was wary of a scallion soup.  This was pleasantly mild in the onion department, and nice and sweet from the peas.

I wouldn't purposely buy a bunch of scallions to make this again, but if one happened to show up in a future CSA farm box, then why not.

Peas and Scallion Soup
Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 large bunch of scallions (approx. 6 scallions), whites thinly sliced and greens coarsely chopped
• 1 small 1/4 inch slice of ginger, peeled
• 1 container (5 oz.) sliced button mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup sugar snap peas, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup snow peas, cut into matchsticks
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• few dashes of rice wine vinegar

Directions:

• In a large saucepan, combine chicken broth, water, scallion greens and ginger.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until scallions are mushy and broth is flavorful.  Strain and discard solids.
• Add mushrooms and frozen peas.  Bring to a boil. 
• Add sugar snap peas and snow peas and cook for about a minute.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Remove soup from heat and stir in the scallion whites and a few dashes of rice wine vinegar.
• Serve hot.