Spooky Stuffed Peppers

Dinner time gets a Halloween makeover with these Spooky Stuffed Peppers.

A tasty and fun way to kick off the Halloween celebrations!

These little stuffed peppers are filled with a protein-rich mixture of quinoa, black beans, lentils and vegetables. They're a lot of fun to make and are really healthy!

Carving pumpkins can sometimes be hard work for little ones but carving these peppers is much easier.

Ingredients

6 orange peppers

1 small onion - finely chopped

1 celery stick - washed and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves - peeled and crushed

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground chilli powder

1 courgette - washed and finely chopped

1/2 aubergine - washed and finely chopped

2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes

2 x 400g cans of red kidney beans or black beans rinsed

200g mixed quinoa

2 tbsps tomato puree

100ml vegan veg stock

Salt and pepper

1 tsp coconut sugar

100g feta cheese (optional)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Wash the peppers and cut off the tops and put to one side. Remove the cores and seeds and discard them.

Take each pepper and cut out a halloween face as you would on a jack-o-lantern pumpkin. You only need a little knife and they are much easier to cut than a pumpkin!

Place the peppers in a deep ovenproof casserole dish and set aside while you make the filling.

To make the filling heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan on a low heat. Add the onions, celery and garlic and cook for about 8 minutes until soft.

Add the ground ginger, paprika, cumin and chilli powder. Stir for around two minutes.

Add the courgette and aubergines and mix thoroughly.

Add the chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato puree, lentils and coconut sugar, stirring as you go.

Now add the vegetable stock and add salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a gentle boil - low the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Spoon the filling carefully into the peppers. If there is too much filling, spoon it around the peppers. Crumble the feta cheese onto the filling mixture and place the pepper tops on top of the peppers (how many times can I say top?!)

Cover and cook in the oven for around 30-40 mins until peppers soften.

Serve with a spoonful of natural yoghurt or coconut yoghurt.

(For those who like it less hot and spicy, just add half the quantities of spice)