Sweet Potato Stuffed Peppers with Cous Cous

This recipe is a bit more time-consuming, but delicious and fairly easy to make as well as being cheap. I made this last year at uni quite a lot as it makes a change from something pasta or rice based. It's also super healthy and full of goodness. The protein comes from cheese and pumpkin seeds (or any other nuts or quinoa), carbs from the sweet potato and vitamins and anti-oxidants etc from the vegetable and fruit content.

Ingredients

• 1 pepper (I prefer red)
• Half a large sweet potato or a whole small one
• One small parsnip (if you like parsnip)
• 2-4 tbsp of Philadelphia, other cream cheese, cottage cheese or a soft cheese. (I always have this in stock because I love to eat it in sandwiches with sliced tomato and fresh basil, or on its own if I'm feeling lazy. It can be put in any cheesy sauce and just perks up quite a few dishes).
• Parsley
• Optional 2-3 mushrooms,
• 3 tbsp of cous cous or quinoa or brown rice
• Lemon juice to flavour

Recipe

• Put a saucepan of water on to boil, and put a shake of salt in it. Set the oven to 200 degrees.
• Peel the sweet potato and the parsnip and cut them up into medium chunks. To cut up the parsnip, you'll want to core it as the core is tough. To do this, very carefully cut it in half length-ways, then turn it flat-side down and cut it into quarters. Then hold it angled side up so you have the ridge pointing upwards, then push a knife into the line between the core and the rest of the parsnip, and wiggle it so that the core comes away.
• Once you've done this, cut the parsnip up into chunks and place both this and the sweet potato into the boiling water. Cook them for about 20 minutes over a medium heat, or until a knife poked into a chunk feels soft.
• Once they're done, drain them, place them in a small mixing bowl and mash them with a fork. Add the cheese, parsley chopped up, season with black pepper and a bit of salt, and continue to whiz with the fork.Taste the mix and add more of anything to taste.
• Cut the pepper in half from top to bottom (not round the middle) and put the stuffing in - piling it up a little. Scatter some pumpkin seeds on top and grate some hard cheese too if you have some.
• Smear about a tbsp of oil round a baking tray or dish, and place the two halves of the pepper in it. Put them in the oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.
• While they're cooking, decide what you're going to have with it. I sometimes have brown rice and vegetables. This can be a bit dry though, so here I've suggested cous cous. Follow the instructions on the packet, and add lemon juice and vegetables and a bit of olive oil and seasoning and it should be yummy!!
• You can eat half the pepper, and put the other half in the fridge to eat another day.

Here's one we prepared earlier!

Tip of the day: If you ever see cream on offer in the supermarket, buy it and then freeze it individually in an ice cube tray. Whenever you're making a sauce that needs enriching, wack in just one of those cubes and voila! 

Complimentary tune: Sia - Chandelier (Night Cruise Remix) we love the original tune here at Gourmet Student Grub, and we love this remix even better.

---K