Stuffed Peppers (Paleo)

Hot foods, like stuffed peppers, somehow seem to make the transition into cool weather much easier. Usually, the arrival of fall means the beginning of my whining about Ottawa winters. However, this year, after having had such an amazing summer and a late arrival to fall, I couldn’t help but get lost in the beauty of fall.

Since I’ve been playing dodgeball about three times a week and been doing weight training workouts on the side, my body’s been begging me for more protein. A smoothie with 18 grams of protein just won’t do anymore. I decided to make stuffed peppers for breakfast instead. People generally tend to give me a look of “umm, okay, really?” when I eat dinner foods for breakfast, but dinner for breakfast is my absolute favourite.

I took 15 minutes last night to prepare the filling and stuff the peppers so that it would all be ready to go today. The beauty of this recipe is that it’s so quick. It can then be made in the oven or in the slowcooker while you’re at work or running errands.

Stuffed peppers (paleo)

Ingredients
4 medium or large bell peppers of different colours
1 lb ground meat of choice (I used chicken)
Small cooking onion, finely chopped
Small zucchini, quartered and chopped
1 tsp each: dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley, black pepper
Salt to preference

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F (unless using slowcooker).

Mix together all the raw ingredients except for the bell peppers, then set aside. Cut off the tops of the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Pack the filling inside the peppers.

Cook in the oven for about an hour or in the slowcooker on low for 8 hours. Makes 4 servings.

Can be prepared in advance and cooked the next day as long as expiry dates of all ingredients are being respected.