Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Thursday. A mere hurdle between the weekdays and the freedom of the weekend. In my case, a tiny barricade that stands between me and vegan fro-yo.

Oh yes, you heard right: V E G A N  F R O- Y O!! 

It's also Kevin's birthday weekend and we're going to see the Pasadena Pops, but let's be real here. All either of us care about is engaging in some serious fro-yo top-it-as-you-like-buffet GO KRAY action. Hey, YOLO right?

Legit, I have been saying for the last year how unfair it is that there are no vegan 'pink-berry' type shops anywhere for us vegans to pop into and satisfy our yearnings for something cold, and ice-creamy that isn't a home spun banana concoction. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of banana ice cream, but sometimes you just want someone else to do the dirty work. And I'm a total sucker for anything buffet. 

Behold: ::cue angelic music::

Allegedly, their flavors range from your standard variety of chocolate and vanilla to seasonal flavors like PUMPKIN PIE and COOKIE DOUGH. I'm drooling. There are puddles. And to make it all that more enticing, I emailed the company because I'm a control freak to ask what exactly is in this magical fro-yo and within a day I received a response that made me love them that much more: It is rice milk-based with no oil, salt, or refined sugar and they don't use any honey. BaZnGa! (We're watching a lot of Big Bang Theory these days, can you tell??) They are also kosher, parve and the vegan toppings bar/fro-yo is separate from the conventional diary fro-yo section. 

With the kind of reviews they have been getting consistently on Yelp, I can't see how they could disappoint. I shall update this post with a review after I sample Milky's Vegan Fro-yo. 

(Milky's is located on 1429 S. Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035. All pictures of aforementioned company are from www.milkysyogurt.com and not my own.)  

Crawling out of my fro-yo stupor ::ahem:: 

 So, my husband is very much a dedicated vegan (and my recipe guinea pig!) but, he really isn't into the raw thing. He dabbles, but since we don't eat high fat raw gourmet anymore anyway, the chances of him eating that type of raw food on his own are virtually nonexistent. Other than salads/fruit, or my occasional dehydrated low fat savory or sweet concoction - he pretty much sticks to cooked food. I would say he follows something along the lines of a McDougall or Fuhrman lifestyle-- high carb, cooked vegan, but with high fruit. That means, unless he is eating out, it's no oil or salt. However, sometimes we break the rules a bit and include Diaya vegan cheeze - still much healthier than regular cheese and the 'healthiest' of the vegan cheezes. Plus, it's soy-free and gluten-free which is always a plus! 

Enter: Vegan Mexican Stuffed Pepper

Stuffed Peppers were always one of my favourites as a kid. My Mim used to make them with ground beef and brown rice and they would steep in homemade marinara and I would eat them up with much delight. 

I was inspired by Mim's stuffed peppers to make my own equally delicious version, but spice it up! After all, it is California in the summer - what better way to put a spin on an old favourite than to make it Mexican! 

My vegan stuffed peppers are just as good, sans the beef and rice! I loaded mine with tons of vegetables: grape tomatoes,corn, kale, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, a bit of jalapeno pepper- all organic. You can really use whatever you like. I chopped up all the veg, sprinkled it with a bit of lemon-pepper, and stuffed it inside an extra large farmers market red pepper. Then I topped it off with Diaya and let it melt to perfection in the oven. It only takes a few minutes to melt so the veggies still retain both freshness and crunch! 

We are not a household that enjoys mushy veg.! Unless that mushy veg happens to be of the potato variety.. 

 Mmm, mid-melt stuffed pepper. (Nearly burned my eyebrows off trying to get this shot as the pepper was still in the oven! All for the love of a future blog post!) 

Kev devoured this! It has a bit of spice, the flavor of the veg really comes through, and the Diaya adds a nice touch of creaminess. You could always top yours with some chopped cilantro afterwards or maybe even some guac if that's your thing. 

You could also not stuff it into a pepper. You could wrap it in a tortilla! We buy these: 

Huzzah! Gluten-free, organic corn, and no-salt! They don't even fall apart! They are the shiz! 

Ahhh, don't you just love versatility in a recipe? Just makes life so much easier!