Carrie Vitt is one of the sweetest people I know and she’s got a great new cookbook out called The Grain-Free Family Table: 125 Delicious Recipes for Fresh, Healthy Eating Every Day
. Carrie has experienced huge improvements in various health issues via diet change: she follows a grain-free diet and the focus of this book is grain-free recipes.
While I don’t eat a grain-free diet, I really like this cookbook because it’s packed with protein-filled recipes as well as recipes that feature fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, grain alternatives, natural fats, and wholesome sweets. Moreover, the food photos, shot by Carrie, are beautiful, and my recipe for sauerkraut is on page 258!
I have made these stuffed peppers a few times now and my family enjoys them a lot. For the record, I have not been too keen on adopting the “cauliflower in lieu of rice” trend but I did “rice” the cauliflower for this recipe and I am glad I gave it a try (it’s really easy to do and it increases the veggie quotient of this dish). That said, feel free to substitute cooked rice for the cauliflower rice if you like, and if you don’t need the recipe to be grain free. (Note that this is not a Paleo cookbook, but Carrie gives suggestions for how to make each recipe Paleo/dairy free if that’s something you need.)
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Recipe for Southwestern Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- *2 tablespoons coconut oil I used olive oil
- *6 scallions or green onions cut into 1/4-inch slices, white and green parts separated
- *1 pound grass-fed ground beef
- *1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- *2 cloves garlic minced
- *3 cups "riced" cauliflower (see headnote)
- *1 4.5-ounce can chopped green chiles
- *2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese I reduced this to 1 cup
- *1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- *4 large red yellow or orange bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise, stems on, seeds removed (I only used 3 peppers)
- *1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
- *1/2 cup salsa
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF and adjust rack to middle position.
- 2. Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add scallion whites, half the scallion greens, and the beef and cook until meat is no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Move the beef mixture to the sides of the pan and add the cumin and garlic to the center. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute, then stir into beef mixture. Add the riced cauliflower, chiles, 1 cup of the cheese (I only used 1/2 cup), and sea salt to pan and stir until all ingredients are incorporated.
- 3. Place the peppers cut side up in a large baking dish. Divide filling mixture evenly among the peppers. Pour 1/2 cup hot water in the bottom of the pan and then cover peppers with a sheet of unbleached parchment paper. Top with a piece of foil (this way the foil doesn't touch the food). Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil, top each pepper with a bit of sour cream and salsa, and sprinkle on the remaining 1 cup cheese (I only used 1/2 cup). Bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown and the peppers are crisp-tender. Serve.
