Stuffed Peppers | Recipe

Today I'm sharing a simple, yet quick and easy recipe which you can easily whip up using the ingredients you have in your fridge or cupboard. Peppers a great source of several vitamins and nutrients, plus they taste amazing, what's not to love about them? They are a staple item in my weekly food shop which I typically use as an accompaniment to most meals. Whether it be salad, stir fry, curry or mixed veg; peppers can be used in almost any meal, so this time I decided to try using them as them as the main staple of the meal.

With peppers, you usually get a typical choice of green, yellow, red or orange in your local supermarket. I like them all so always pick up a pack of mixed peppers in the weekly shop, though if you only like a particular colour you can buy them singly if you prefer. Green peppers tend to have a slightly bitter taste whereas the red/yellow/orange are all sweeter and have an almost fruity taste to them. Any colour peppers are fine to use for this recipe, so if you prefer to use all red, feel free!

Ingredients:
3 peppers
4-6 chestnut (or button) mushrooms
1 red onion
1 large handful of spinach
Half cup of wholegrain rice
1 teaspoon of coconut oil for frying

Method:
Cook the rice until soft.
Finely chop the red onion and mushrooms and fry them in coconut oil, add the spinach and fry until wilted.
Remove from the heat and mix everything together in a bowl.
Cut the tops from the peppers and put them aside (these will become the 'lids') and remove the seeds.
Fill the peppers with your rice and vegetable mixture and place the lids back on top.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until the pepper skin starts to 'crinkle'

You can swap and add filling ingredients however you like. Try using quinoa instead of rice or adding mince (meat or quorn) or cheese. There are so many filling combinations, your imagination is your limit! I've found that this is a great way to use up any remaining foods in the fridge; it's filling and a perfect way to get a mix of ingredients in to one meal without aimlessly throwing it on to a plate, we're all guilty of that! You could even make up a larger batch of them and keep them in the fridge for a few days, perfect to quickly heat up for your lunches or evening meals.

Have you tried stuffed peppers before? What filling combinations do you recommend?

A New Direction

I'm not one to make new years resolutions or talk about how much I'm going to change at the beginning of a new year. I've always just taken it as it comes, with no real perspective or challenges ahead of me. All in all, you could say a little lazy really.

This is the usual me. My problem with that is usual me isn't getting me where I want to be, she isn't moving hard and fast enough in the right direction. So, instead of new years resolutions, this year is the one I push myself.

I'm very lucky to be able to say that as of this year, as a result of years of hard work and saving, we have enough money saved for a mortgage. This means at some point in the next few months, whenever we find a house we like, I will become a home owner. This is exciting and intimidating in it's own right, knowing that moving house can be one of the most exciting yet stressful times of your life. As if that wasn't enough, jut a few weeks ago, we booked our wedding for later this year.

Exciting yet potentially stressful, I'm taking this as a new challenge and a new opportunity to improve my health, my fitness and my well being beyond anything I have achieved previously. This also means making changes to both my work and personal life in time.

Life is moving in a new direction and going forwards I intend to take this blog along my journey with me. Expect to see updates on my fitness, recipes, and potentially a few house or wedding ideas along the way, I have a new path to conquer and I'd love if you would like to follow along with me.