A Child's Portion: Stuffed Red Peppers

For some reason I keep ending up on stuffed red pepper recipes in my e-travels lately and I don't really care for red peppers, haha.  It seemed like something the kids would like so I added it to my menu for the week.  Of course, I couldn't find the perfect recipe so I just mixed a bunch of different ones together to come up with tonight's version.  I served it with a spinach salad and a fresh baguette.  What a great meal at the end of a very (very very) long day.

Stuffed Red Peppers

6 red peppers

butter

2 chopped onions

4 cloves minced garlic

4 stalks chopped celery

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

2 cups cooked (brown) rice

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

cheddar cheese

1 batch chunky pasta sauce

*Hollow out the red peppers and boil for 5 minutes

*Saute onions in butter until very soft.  Add garlic, celery, and sunflower seeds and cook for 6-8 minutes.

*Add rice, parsley, salt and pepper, beans, cumin, and parsley and mix well.

*Spoon mixture into peppers and top with cheese.

*Use the pasta sauce to line a casserole dish.  Place stuffed peppers into the sauce and cover with more. 

*Cover dish with tin foil and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.  Remove foil and bake until cheese is bubbly.

White Kidney Bean Burgers

We've had these burgers several times over the last few weeks (can you tell it's bbq season?), and every time they are totally devoured before I have a chance for seconds.  SO GOOD.  It started out with a recipe from Veggie Burgers Every Which Way but since that recipe involved olives I decided to totally change it up.  Not a fan of olives, can you tell?  We had the burgers with some coleslaw and steamed asparagus.

White Bean Burgers

butter

2 sliced onions

1 head roasted garlic

2 cans of white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp chopped fresh sage

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp cumin

2 tbsp ground flax seed + 2 tbsp water (mixed together)

1+ cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper

juice from 1/2 lemon

*Cook onions in butter on low until caramelized (at least 30 minutes)

*In a food processor, pulse together onions, garlic, sage, flax seed mixture and half the beans

*Transfer to a large bowl and add remaining ingredients

*Cook in a small amount of olive oil for 5-6 minutes per side

*Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, flipping once