Halloween stuffed peppers
Your kids can follow this recipe to help prepare a spooky Halloween dinner.
Who says you can only carve pumpkins for Halloween night? Get your kids involved in helping to carve these bell pepper jack-o'-lanterns for a healthy warm meal before they set out for trick-or-treating!
This recipe was adapted from cookincanuck.com.
Servings: 6 (1 serving = half of a stuffed pepper)
Ingredients
- 3 bell peppers, any color (orange looks most like a traditional jack-o’-lantern)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 cups canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley, divided
Directions
- Carve a jack-o’-lantern face on one side of each pepper.
- Carefully cut each pepper in half from top to bottom. Remove seeds and membranes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, chickpeas, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the cooked quinoa and 3 tablespoons parsley.
- Place the pepper, cut side up, in a large baking dish. Divide the chickpea mixture evenly between the peppers. Pour 1/2 cup water in the bottom of the baking dish.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake in the preheated oven until the peppers are tender, about 30 minutes.
- Garnish with remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley.
- Carefully put 2 bell pepper halves back together, so that the jack-o’-lantern is face up.
- Split a jack-o’-lantern stuffed pepper with a friend.
Nutrition Information (per serving)
- Calories: 200
- Total fat: 5 g
- Saturated fat: 0.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 510 mg
- Total carbohydrate: 34 g
- Dietary fiber: 8 g
- Sugars: 11 g
- Added sugars: 0 g
- Protein: 8 g