When I came to Vancouver, I moved into an empty suite. Well, except for the dog it’s empty. His owners are sailing around the world for a year, and their former nanny covered the first 11.5 months of doggie-care.

She’s moved out with her furniture (of course), and I moved in… but since it’s only for for 17 days, it’s not like I was investing too much in it!

I’m 800 kilometres from home base right now, and really depending on the kindness of friends to get by… I sleep on an aerobed, and for all my kitchen needs, I’m either eating raw or else heading to my friend Tara’s house to cook. She lives about 300 metres away, so, no problem! But I guess it’s a *little* inconvenient… with her out of town, though, at least I know that the only person inconvenienced is me! Thanks, Tara!

After too many days of slapping bare essentials together, I decided to cook the other night. I had an idea about what I wanted, and it was time to put it in action: veggie stuffed peppers! The RD I saw in Calgary, Kelly Anne, had recommended I check out some Yves Veggie ground round for a lower-fat protein option. And since I’m away from my extensive herb and spice collection, I ended up buying the Italian flavour (also for the tomatoes), though if I were at home I probably would have used TVP and plain tomatoes, and spiced it all myself…

It was yummy, it was warm, it was healthy, it was divine! Not at all an “oh-my-god-why-didn’t-I-think-of-that” divine, but “that-hit-the-spot” divine… and it fits in with the My Legume Love Affair event #25, on now! (Originally conceived of by Susan, the Well-Seasoned Cook, who also hosted Sugar High Friday last month!)

Vegan Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
½ jalapeno pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 red onion, chopped
5 medium brown mushrooms, sliced
1 19-oz can Diced Italian-Spiced Tomatoes
2 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
1 cup azuki beans and black beans
½ pack of Yves Italian Veggie Ground Round
2/3 cup quinoa
5 red and yellow peppers

How to:

•    Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat
•    Add jalapeno, garlic, onion and cook for about 3 minutes
•    Add mushrooms, cook about 4 minutes more (until mushrooms soften)
•    Mix in the tomatoes and spices; stir to combine
•    Add beans, ground round, quinoa and continue cooking long enough to heat all ingredients well (about 5-7 minutes)
•    While that’s cooking, prepare the peppers: wash and core them, levelling the bottoms so they’ll stand in a casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
•    Fill the peppers with the mixture to overfilling (it will reduce in the oven)
•    Bake for 20 minutes (for al dente peppers, or slightly longer if you want them really soft).

It’s a bit spicy! I served with some avocado slices to ease the heat. And, if I’d had fresh spinach on hand, I’d have mixed that in after the mushrooms for some extra colour…

I have so much to learn about food photography… but I never get tired of legumes! Thanks for hosting, Siri!