Fall=Pepper Palooza at the farmers market. This is the first season I'm really paying attention to the different varieties and there are so many that there's no way I can tackle them all. I would love recommendations if you have any favorites!

While I want to experiment with some of the funnier-looking ones and ones of different spice levels to amp up some of my favorite dishes, I was drawn to this one farmer's gorgeous abundance of good old bell peppers.

So mad I didn't take a photo of that whole assortment, but all the peppers weren't just perfectly colored plain red, yellow, green, and orange like the standard ones at the grocery store. They were all primarily one color but had tinges of the others- I love me some odd-looking produce. Does this surprise you at all at this point though?

Anyway, I hadn't made stuffed peppers in a long time, and I had some farro that I had cooked as my grain of the week- and voila. Stuffed peppers are somewhat of a foolproof thing- you can make them with meat like ground turkey or chicken or you can do just plain veggies. I went veggie heavy to use some leftover dino kale and onions I had on hand, and then I picked up a zucchini, because well why not. This might be a weird combination to some, but I loved it. It's like a vegetable party on every forkful, and it's honestly kind of hard to go wrong with how to stuff peppers. Feel free to swap in any types of vegetables!

Also because of its flexibility, it's easy to keep things vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free if you wanted to sub in quinoa or rice as a different grain.

Stuffed peppers are also pretty hassle-free to make- if you already have a cooked grain, all you need to do is chop some veggies, throw them into a pepper, and stick it into the oven and do other things while it cooks. Cleanup is easy too, considering you eat the whole thing!

Farro & Veggie Stuffed Peppers

*serves 2 hungry people
*Vegan

Ingredients

2 large Bell Peppers, colors variable
1/2 cup Farro, cooked
1/2 Zucchini, diced
1/2 heaping cup of Tuscan Kale, chopped
2 small Spring Onions, sliced
~5 sprigs of Chives, diced
Spice measurements used to taste:
(I just used a generous sprinkle of it all)
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Cayenne Pepper
Himalayan Pink Salt
Black Pepper

*optional: add a sprinkle of grated parmesan in the stuffed mix and on top to help bind mixture- but it's not necessary!

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 375º F and line a baking dish with aluminum foil or lightly grease bottom of the dish with EVOO. 

2. Combine farro, zucchini, kale, onions, chives, and spices (and parmesan if you choose) in a medium mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. 

*Optional: you can cook this mixture for a few minutes on a pan on medium heat to get some of the veggies cooking- I did it to reduce the volume of the kale in particular, so I could make it all fit inside the two peppers!

3. Cut out the tops of the bell peppers, and remove all seeds from the inside. If your peppers aren't stable standing upright on their own, gently cut a sliver from the bottom to make it flat- but be careful to not cut a hole in the pepper.

4. Spoon farro mixture into bell peppers until packed tightly. Place bell peppers on baking dish and pop it in the oven.

*Optional: You can "tent" the baking dish with an additional piece of aluminum foil to speed up the cooking process if you're shorter on time- you remove this tent about 25 minutes in, then resume cooking for another 10 minutes so the outside of peppers will begin to roast and brown

5. Cook in the oven for about 40-50 minutes or until desired tenderness. Let it cool for a few minutes, then serve!

I also roasted these little babies by throwing them on the baking dish alongside the peppers. Yum.