Healthy Greek Stuffed Peppers
Greek stuffed peppers are a perfect for experiencing the delicious food Greece has to offer without having to travel further then your own kitchen! Greek food is generally healthy- full of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein like fish and chicken, with the occasional piece of red meat. Proteins from non-meat sources like beans and legumes are also popular in soups, stews, and salads. A US News and Health report named the Mediterranean (aka Greek) diet as the healthiest diet in the world. The foundation of the Greek diet lies in the eating habits of Southern European countries – specifically, the people and produce of Greece.
In addition to providing a healthy, balanced diet, Greek food is famous for their love of olive oil when cooking, which is rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. It’s also lower in saturated fat than butter, making it great healthful alternative to cook with. Other foods, such as nuts, avocados, and oily fish also contain monounsaturated fats, which have been found to lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels.
What makes Greek food so delicious??
In April I celebrated my 8 year anniversary so I thought it would be fun to share a Greek dish (full disclosure I made this at the beginning of April but just now posting it!). My husband and I had almost a two year engagement before getting married on April 12th. We took a mini honeymoon to the Poconos for a few days and then took our honeymoon to Greece a couple of months later (highly recommend doing this!) One of our favorites things to do together is travel and Greece was our favorite trip, partly because the food was so amazing. We are planning to go back and explore new islands for our 10 year anniversary which I can’t believe is almost here.
The only bad thing about traveling to Greece is that it has been really difficult to find comparable Greek food (Greek stuffed grapes leaves, tzatziki, homemade pita, etc.) in the States so we have mostly resorted to making our own like these Greek stuffed peppers.
What are the two must haves in Greek Stuffed Peppers?
Greek stuffed peppers include two fun ingredients: feta and capers. Have you ever had capers?? Olives could also be used in this dish in place of the capers. Broiling the feta on top for a couple minutes really takes this dish to the next level but the cheese could be omitted if necessary. If you want a vegetarian or vegan option- crumbled tempeh works really well in stuffed peppers and I’ve made it this way and even fooled meat eaters. Chickpeas would work too in the Greek stuffed peppers, I would just recommend mashing them up a bit.
Greek Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1/2 large yellow onion
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 4 bell peppers
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 TBSP dried basil
- 1 TBSP dried oregano
- 1 TBSP dried parsely
- 1/2 lb ground turkey/chicken
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 TBSP capers
- 2 oz feta cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven toe 350
- Cook rice according to package directions
- Slice tops off peppers and heat in oven for 15 minutes'
- While peppers and rice are cooking, chop onion and saute with olive in large pan
- Add garlic and spices, cook until softened
- Add ground turkey and cook until pink is gone
- Stir in diced tomatoes, cooked rice, and capers, mix thoroughly
- Pour mixtures into peppers, add feta to top
- Bake in oven at 350 for 15 minutes
- Broil 2 minutes to brown feta
What’s the best food you have consumed when traveling!? Greece was amazing but Italy was a close second– I have trip recaps if you are interested or planning on traveling abroad this summer or fall!
If you give these Greek Stuffed Peppers a try make sure to tag me on Instagram @dietitianjess and let me know what you think!
