Halloween Stuffed Pepper-kins

Tina Muir
Recipes

As I now consider myself a blogger, I wanted to try to keep up with all the other foodies, and start making themed foods. Most make mummy cookies, or candy corn blondies, but as much as I would love to eat those, they are not exactly matching up with my healthy eating blog. However, making fun Halloween meals is a little more difficult to come up with. I thought hard about how I could use some kind of vegetable as a outlet, when I realized orange peppers kind of look like a pumpkin! Aha!

I paid the $4.29(!!!) for two peppers (that is one of the reasons I try to stick to in season foods), and decided to fill them with Butternut Squash Risotto, two of my favorite foods together. If you love Butternut Squash as much as I do, check out my Butternut Squash Lasagna, or how about my Butternut Squash Quesadillas?

They actually turned out better than expected. Other than forgetting to put the lids on during the cooking process (meaning they were a different color to the peppers), they turned out great. It even looked like the “pumpkins” were crying with the extra liquid from the risotto. It actually looked pretty cool, I wish I took a photo.

If you are looking for a fun dinner for this Halloween, try these adorable scary Halloween Stuffed Pepper-kins….see what I did there 🙂 Fun for kids and adults alike!

#Healthy Dinner.: #Halloween Stuffed Pepper -kins. Filled with butternut squash risotto. Fun to make, and fun to eat! #FuelYourFuture

#FuelYourFuture

  • Peppers are extremely high in Vitamin C (more than an orange), and have the most antioxidants of all peppers to keep your vision sharp for running in the dark on these cold winter nights
  • Arborio rice gives you almost half of the recommended calcium intake for the day to prevent bone problems, and it also is a surprisingly good source of iron for healthy red blood cell production
  • Butternut squash is abundant in many vitamins and antioxidants to neutralize those nasty free radicals that I talked about in THIS post. It also contains a healthy 6g fiber per serving, and replenishes electrolytes lost through sweating
  • Pumpkin adds fiber for healthy digestion, and gives another small boost of iron
Halloween Stuffed Pepper-kins
 
Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes (40 if you have someone to help)
 
Ingredients
4 orange bell peppers , try to pick ones that stand up on their own
1 tbsp oil
1 cup (185g) arborio rice
½ onion
2 cups (500ml) vegetable/chicken broth
1 cup (250ml) pumpkin puree
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp sage
2 cups (280g or around ½ medium squash) butternut squash, diced into small pieces
 
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425F (220C)
 
Cut the “lids” off the peppers using a small knife in a similar way to cutting a lid off a pumpkin. Remove all the seeds and membrane (paler inside part). Use a small knife to cut a pumpkin face of your choice onto the pepper. Put aside
 
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add the butternut squash, and boil for around 10 minutes, until the squash is completely tender. Drain the water, and put aside
 
Stir the pumpkin puree into the broth. It will not mix completely, but enough to thin out the pumpkin.
 
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until slightly golden brown. Add the arborio rice, and stir well to coat with oil. Cook for 1 minute before beginning to add the broth ½ cup (125ml) at a time. Stir until the liquid has been absorbed, then add the next ½ cup. Make sure you are stirring continuously the entire time. This is a crucial step that is often not taken seriously when making risotto, resulting in a disaster. Continue to add the liquid ½ cup at a time until it has all been absorbed. Add the butternut squash, salt, pepper, sage, and nutmeg. Keep stirring until the risotto has been cooking around 20 minutes, and the rice is soft, but slightly chewy.  
 
Place the peppers onto a baking tray. Scoop the risotto into the peppers. The liquid will begin to run out a little, but it does not spread very much once they are in the oven. Place the lids on top of the peppers and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the peppers are soft and starting to wrinkle. 
 
Remove from the oven, and serve with some human fingers, or a black cats tail…..or a chicken breast and green leafy vegetables……some of you would probably still pick the human fingers over the leafy green vegetables J
 
Nutritional Information
275 calories, 4g fat, 593mg sodium, 60g Carbohydrates, 8g Fiber, 6g Protein
    • dinner, halloween, rice

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