Category: Beans

Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Leave a comment

It seems too early to be transitioning from fall to winter, but it’s kind of already happening. Why the heck is it so cold? And why is the sun rising at like nine and setting at like six? These are questions we have yet to answer, my friends. But in the meantime, we might as well embrace the freezing darkness that is winter and enjoy these stuffed peppers.

Stuffed peppers are an amazing comfort food🥰 They’re hearty and delicious, perfect for a cold winter night. These ones also happen to be super healthy, as well as vegan and gluten free. I used lentils and quinoa for the meat substitute, and it makes a filling that is INCREDIBLE. My advice is to double or triple the recipe so you can have tasty peppers for lunch all week long.

Also, if you don’t feel like cooking for hours or washing a TON of dishes, these are for you! I used canned lentils and already cooked quinoa for increased simplicity. You just need to fry up some onions and basically mix everything tightest in the pot. Then stuff your peppers, pop em in the oven, and let them get nice and soft on the outside, warm on the inside, and crispy on top😍 (Those crispy bits are the best part). You’re left with a meal that is so flavourful and filling that you’ll be like, take that, stupid winter. So yeah, the season might not be too bad if you’ve got these hanging around!

Hope you enjoy this recipe!:)

Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Serves: 2

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 large bell peppers, any colour
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 can of tomato paste (6 oz)
  • 1 cup cooked lentils (I used the brown canned variety)
  • 2/3 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 cup packed spinach
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the diced onions and cook for 6-8 minutes, until translucent.
  2. Add the minced garlic to the pot and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Then dump in the tomato paste, lentils, quinoa, balsamic, soy sauce, herbs and spices, and stir to combine.
  3. Let the mixture cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the spinach and continue to cook until it’s wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove from the heat.
  4. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut out the tops of your peppers so that a round hole is left. Full each pepper with half of the lentil and quinoa filling, then place in a glass baking dish.
  5. Bake the peppers for about 15 minutes in the oven; then reduce the heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the peppers are soft and the top of the filling is crispy.
  6. Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Hope you guys are having a great week! I have another great pumpkin recipe for you guys on Friday. We’ve got to milk this pumpkin and apple stuff before fall is over, am I right? See you then!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

1 Comment

I’m SUPER excited about this recipe it turned out really great:) I’m part Polish, so I grew up eating cabbage rolls a lot, and they’re pretty delicious. I had a couple of heads of cabbage in my fridge and thought I’d try and make a lighter, vegetarian version, and they’re AWESOME. In the filling I used mushrooms for some meatiness, as well as lots of onion, parsley, black beans, and oregano. All of this amazingness is wrapped up in some softened cabbage leaves, then baked in the simplest sauce you will ever make. These rolls are a win for meal prep, a vegetarian side dish, or main course.

Making these rolls is also really fun, because you get to stuff and roll them up. To soften the cabbage leaves, I boiled the whole head for around 5 minutes, then removed the outer leaves and continued the process until all of the usable cabbage was soft. Then you simply scoop some filling in the middle, fold in the sides, and then roll like you would a burrito. Once you get into your cabbage roll groove, you’ll be pumping out rolls like nobody’s business.

After carefully placing the rolls in a glass baking dish, you’ll cover them in sauce (which has only THREE ingredients), and bake them up until they’re a leetle bit crispy. You gotta love those slightly burned edges. And voila. You’re set with delicious food for the next while! These rolls are so healthy and hearty; they’ll keep you going all day long. I hope you get around to making these, because this is definitely one of my new favourite recipes. Happy rolling!:)

Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Serves: 4-5 (Makes 20-24 rolls)

Total Time: 105 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Rolls:

  • 2 heads of green cabbage, about 1-2 pounds each
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 large white onion, diced
  • 2 cups of diced mushrooms
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 cup of brown rice
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1/2 cup of packed parsley
  • 1 egg
  • 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tbsp of soy sauce
  • 2 tsp of dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste

For the Sauce:

  • 1 6 oz can of tomato paste
  • 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tsp of dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Bring the water and brown rice to boil in a pot, then lower to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes. You want to rice to be slightly under cooked, as it will cook more in the oven later. Set aside.
  2. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add in the onions, garlic, and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to caramelize; about 10-15 minutes. At this point, stir in the soy sauce and season with salt and pepper, continuing to cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and dump into a big bowl.
  3. Add the brown rice, parsley, oregano, black beans, egg, and some more salt and pepper to the onion and mushroom mixture. Stir until combined and set aside.
  4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Use tongs to transfer a head of cabbage into it, and boil for five minutes. Remove the cabbage with the tongs and carefully remove the outer layer of leaves, placing them on a cutting board or wherever you plan to roll your rolls. Continue this process until all of the usable cabbage leaves are soft and ready to go.
  5. Take a leaf of cabbage and cut out any outstanding stem pieces at the base of the leaf that will make it harder to roll. Place a tablespoon of filling inside, and form it into a sort of log shape with your hands. Fold the two sides into the centre and then roll the cabbage away from you, forming a tight, burrito like roll. Place in a glass baking dish.
  6. Continue to fill and roll the cabbage until all of the leaves have been used up. If you have some extra filling and stem pieces, fry them up for a quick snack later:)
  7. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  8. Mix together all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl, and spoon the sauce evenly on top of the cabbage rolls.
  9. Bake the rolls uncovered for 40-45 minutes in the oven. Remove and enjoy!!

I can’t wait to make these delicious rolls again! Let me know if you try them out. See you Friday!!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:)))

No Powder Protein Smoothie

2 Comments

Hey guys:) I got a cool new blender over the weekend that makes single serving smoothies, so I thought I’d whip up a smoothie for breakfast this morning, and I could drink it on the drive to school. This morning was Upper Body day💪💪 so I wanted sone protein in there. Protein powder is my first choice, and for a while I was using some that we just had in our pantry. But now we’re out, and it’s so dang expensive! I’m not about to spend sixty five bucks on a thing of protein powder. This is where we get creative, people.

I tried adding black beans into one of my smoothie bowls a few weeks ago, and it may sound gross, but you can’t even taste them. Plus, they help thicken things up. Boom, 6 grams of protein. Then you’ve got a tablespoon of peanut butter, which adds great flavour. Another 4 grams of protein. Then some spinach and kale for the vitamins. 1 more gram. And finally, a cup of almond milk. 1 gram. So then you’ve got yourself a smoothie with 12 GRAMS of protein without using any powder whatsoever!!

This smoothie is not only full of vitamins and protein, but it tastes great👌 The peanut butter gives it some nuttiness, and the strawberry, banana, and peaches make it sweet🥰 This is a recipe that I will definitely be remaking, because it’s a quick, portable, protein filled breakfast that satisfies my sweet tooth! Definitely give this one a try😊

No Powder Protein Smoothie

Serves: 1

Total Time: 7 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana, frozen and chopped
  • About 5 fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 cup cooked black beans
  • 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup packed spinach
  • 1/2 cup packed kale
  • 1/2 cup chopped frozen peaches
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

  1. Add all of the ingredients into a good quality blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Enjoy!

Such a quick and easy breakfast recipe!! Hope you enjoy:)💪💪

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Herb and Garlic Hummus

4 Comments

I pretty much have a hummus addiction… I like to put hummus on anything and everything, and it makes food way less boring😂😂 Wraps? Bowls? Crackers? Plain veggies? They ALL get an upgrade when hummus is involved, so I like to have some in my fridge at all times. Roasted Garlic is usually my store-bought go to, but today I made some Herb and Garlic Hummus!!👌

This is the first time I made hummus with tahini and I definitely reccommend it🙌 It makes it creamier and adds a nice flavour!! Tahini is basically just sesame seed butter; or ground up sesame seeds. I bought some at a small Mediterranean deli, but you should be able find it at most grocery stores. In addition to tahini, I also threw some parsley, dill, garlic, olive oil, water, salt and pepper into this hummus. Summer is almost over so we’ve got to get those fresh herbs in while we can people👌👌 And where would I be without garlic? Garlic is amazing in everything, and especially amazing in hummus.

Feel free to slap this hummus on all of your meals!! I love it with veg and on my bowls, and it would be great on toast or on a bagel🥰 Keep some on hand for an easy after school snack!! Enjoy:)

Herb and Garlic Hummus

Serves: 4-6

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 398 ml can of Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup Tahini
  • 1/4 cup packed Parsley
  • 1/4 cup loosely packed Dill
  • 1 large clove of Garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 2 tbsp Water
  • Sat and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Add all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Forgot to mention that this recipe only has one step!🤦‍♀️ Yeah, it’s super easy and super delicious:) Make sure you try it out!! Have a great week.

Yours Truly,

MyDayIsBooked:))

Mexican Inspired Meal Prep Bowls

Leave a comment

To be honest, I’m excited to be going back to school. It’ll be good to get out of the house and see some other humans. I’m even a little excited to make lunches again! Although I know I’ll probably be sick and tired of it after the first week. That’s why there’s this awesome thing called MEAL PREP. You just make a bunch of delicious food, throw it in containers, and store it in the fridge for when you need it next. A while ago I published a Black Bean Stew that’s great for meal preppin’, and I also have a TON of freezer meals that you can make and then just reheat in the morning. Today I made some Mexican Inspired Meal Prep Bowls, which are AMAZING and full of flavour and good stuff that’ll fill you up. Because not being full is reason number 353378 that school lunches can sometimes suck. Keyword sometimes. Your lunches won’t suck after this.

In these bowls I put a lot of veggies, some quinoa, delicious refried beans, and a KILLER homemade salsa that will knock your socks off. This can all come together in about 30 minutes, and that 30 minutes will save you from a lot of pain later on in the week. You know when you’re like, oh, I’ll just throw a random granola bar in my bag because that’s all I need, and then you seriously regret it at lunch? Problem solved. Now you can throw this in your bag instead. Just maybe don’t actually throw it because then the lid might come off and your backpack will smell like salsa.

I know I said this last year and probably every year before that too, but this year I’m really going to be more organized will meal prepping. Join me in this quest to end LLS (Lazy Lunch Syndrome). I’ll definitely be posting more meal prep recipes, and some tips and tricks for making awesome lunches. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram to stay up to date!!

Mexican Inspired Meal Prep Bowls

Serves: 2 (feel free to double or triple the recipe to prepare for the entire week)

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
  • 1 small carrot, grated
  • 1 can of **ORGANIC** black beans; reserve 1/2 cup of the liquid, then drain and rinse the rest. Please use organic black beans, because when using the liquid you want to make sure it’s just water and salt, and there’s no preservatives.
  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 a lemon
  • 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro
  • A big handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1/4 of a white onion, diced
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the black beans and use a fork or wooden spoon to mash them a bit. After cooking for about 2 minutes, add in the liquid from the can, then stir and continue mashing. Season with salt and pepper, and about a teaspoon of lemon juice. Cook until the beans have thickened and most of the liquid is evaporated, about another couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
  2. Place the diced tomato, diced onion, garlic, cilantro and the rest of the juice from the lemon in the blender, and season with some salt and pepper. Give in a few pulses until it reaches your desired consistency.
  3. Evenly divide the quinoa, corn, grated carrot, refried beans, cherry tomatoes, and salsa into two tupperware containers. Store in the fridge until needed!!

I hope you guys try these out! Have a great rest of your Monday, and an awesome first day at school, however that will look like for you!!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))