Easy Weeknight Meals: Vegetarian Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers

Sponsored by Crock-Pot® Brand.

These Crock-Pot® slow cooker stuffed peppers are vegetarian, dairy-free, and oozing with health benefits! 

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So it’s pretty obvious that after a long day of work the motivation to cook an intricate dinner starts to dwindle, right? 

I don’t know if it’s just me but all I want to do when I get home is jump into fleece PJ’s and start watching some of my favorite trashy TV shows (don’t judge me). There are plenty of days when cooking healthy seems to be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be!

I started cooking with a Crock-Pot recently, particularly Crock-Pot® Manual Slow Cooker, and am starting to become slightly addicted. All you have to do is set the temperature on low, throw your ingredients in, and slow cook your meal all day while you’re away at work. By the time you get home a delicious healthy meal is waiting to be devoured.

Since I don’t normally cook with a crock-pot, I wanted to create an easy enough recipe to inspire me  to use it more, so I decided to create  a plant based dish packed with benefits: stuffed peppers. I absolutely love the smell of this recipe as it simmers in the Crock-Pot® slow cooker all day. When I created this, I lifted the lid every so often just to check on the peppers and my entire condo smelled divine. Like an Italian country house in Tuscany. Mmm.

For some reason I never cook with green peppers unless it’s in a stir-fry, but now that I found a super easy way to cook with them, I’m hooked!  Green peppers have fiber, Vitamins C and E, and carotenoids! Meaning that you’ll be supporting your immune system, giving your brain vital nutrients to stay energized and sharp, and protecting your cells from oxidative damage.

crock-pot-stuffed-vegetarian-peppers

Typically Italian stuffed peppers call for some sort of meat, but I’m keeping my recipe vegetarian and dairy free. My stuffing is a blend of quinoa, onion, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and a blend of Italian herbs.

This “stuffing” is packed with protein, lycopene (which gives you crazy good beauty boosting benefits), folate, iron, and more vitamin E. It’s a pretty healthy blend of ingredients if I do say so myself.

You can watch this little tutorial video below to see how to make Crock-Pot® slow cooker stuffed peppers, or you can use the recipe directions below. I hope you enjoy!

 

 

Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers: Italian Style

Ingredients:

  • 4 green bell peppers
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 2 cups of cooked quinoa
  • Sprinkle of seasonings of your choice (I use a blend of garlic powder, oregano, basil, pepper, and pink himalayan salt)
  • 1 cup of sundried tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ cup water

Directions:

  1.  Trim tops off bell peppers; remove ribs and seeds. Slice the large bell peppers and Set aside.
  2. Cook quinoa according to package directions.
  3. Mix the onion, spinach, quinoa, sun-dried tomatoes and Italian seasonings in a big bowl.
  4. Place the pepper halves in the crock pot and then stuff each pepper with your quinoa stuffing.
  5. Cook on low heat for 6 hours.

CROCKPOT

About Crock-Pot® Slow Cookers

This is my first official recipe on Balanced Babe using a crock-pot, and it definitely won’t be my last! I created a fun partnership with Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker, so I’ll be creating quite a few healthy recipes using a crock-pot in the near future. I really enjoy using this brand for a number of reasons. One is that it has automated smart cook settings. Meaning that you don’t have to sit there pressing a bunch of buttons until you figure out how it works. It’s also dishwasher safe so cleanup is super easy! 

 

Disclaimer: This is a Sponsored post by Mirum Shopper and Crock-Pot® Brand. All opinions are my own.

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