I packed my peppers with quinoa for a great texture and protein boost, but you could use rice, cous-cous, or how about cauliflower rice for a superlight veggie bite?   Add some chopped veggies, or corn to the mix along with spices of chice and you are away.

I decided to jazz things up a little further by adding the coconut flour ‘cream cheese’ topping with a savoury vibe to it for a change since I’m so used to turning it in to a sweet version. I used harrissa paste that I happened to have in the fridge which I felt added to the general Morrocan/Mediterranean feel, buit you can use any preferred spices.   I was intrigued to see how it would work out this way and also how it would handle being under the grill.

It was good! The top browned nicely whilst the ‘cheese’ topping stayed moist and creamy below, almost creating a thick creamy garnish for the peppers and salad. The flavours were good to, nice and strong which is the way I wanted it on this occasion.

For more lighter summer meals have a little look here

Recipe: Quinoa stuffed peppers with cream topping

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 large red pepper- halved

1 cup cooked quinoa mixed with spices of choice plus extra veg if desired e.g corn/tomatoes)

Topping: 1/3 cup thick  basic coconut cream mixed with 1 tsp soy sauce and ½ tsp harrissa paste (or similar)

Salad leaves to serve

Method:

Oven bake the pepper halves  for 10-15 minutes at 180C until softening. Meanwhile prepare the quinoa and coconut cream topping.

Pack the cooked quinoa into the pepper halves and top with the coconut cream paste spread evenly.

Place under a medium grill for up to 10 minutes until the topping is golden.

Serve with a salad.