Welcome Fall with these Hearty Stuffed Peppers

It’s officially fall. It's time to trade light salads and refreshing drinks for heartier warmer dishes. But this doesn’t mean we have to turn to creamy, cheesy, rich dishes. Below is a recipe for stuffed peppers that is warm and satisfying but not heavy. Even though this dish doesn’t contain any meat, the mushrooms give this dish a meaty texture and the steak seasoning and garlic give it the spicy, grilled meat flavor we usually associate with traditional stuffed peppers. Zucchini and bran cereal add volume and fiber to the filling but keep it low in calories.

Serving size:	1 bell pepper
Number of servings:	2
Calories per serving:	197

Ingredients	Calories
2 medium bell peppers (approx. 200 grams each)	80
8 ounces of white button mushrooms	120
1 medium zucchini (approx. 200 grams)	34
1 cup Fiber One Cereal	120
3 Tbsp minced garlic	12
1/4 cup chopped parsley	11
1 large egg white	17
1/4 tsp salt	0
1 Tbsp Montreal Steak Spice	0

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut mushrooms into quarters (or halves if mushrooms are small). Cut zucchini into pieces similar in size to the mushrooms. Place mushrooms and zucchini in a non-stick frying pan. Cook on medium to high heat until slightly golden brown (approx. 3-5 minutes). Add minced garlic, chopped parsley and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Stir until combined. Turn off heat. Let cool.

Place cooled mushroom and zucchini mixture in a food processor. Add bran cereal. Pulse until mixture is finely chopped but retains some texture. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl. Add steak spice and egg white. Stir until well combined.

Cut the tops off the bell peppers. Remove seeds and membrane. Stuff bell pepper cavities with zucchini mushrooms mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve.

Barbara's Tips

	Cooking the mushrooms and zucchini before adding them to the bell peppers enhances their flavors and removes some of the moisture so the filling isn’t too watery.
	If the filling gets too brown, cover the bell peppers with aluminum foil.

Essential Flavor Ingredients

Montreal Steak Spice is a spice mix used to flavor steak and grilled meats. It is based on the pickling dry-rub seasoning mix used in the preparation of traditional Montreal Smoked Meat. The primary components of Montreal Steak Spice include garlic, coriander, black pepper, Cayenne pepper flakes, dill seed, and salt. Even though there is no meat in this dish, these spices make the filling in this recipe taste just like meat.

Garlic is part of the onion family. It has a characteristically pungent, spicy flavor that makes it a popular ingredient in many Mediterranean, Asian and African dishes. It's strong flavor is an ideal way to add big flavor this filling.