Farro Enchilada Casserole

This post is for my friend Lindsay from the Brandywine. Farro Enchilada Casserole is a healthy lightened up casserole that is I think is close to Vegan with the exception of the cheese.

Farro Enchilada Casserole

As I researched Vegan, I found that some eat cheese and some don’t. So, if you are non-cheese vegan you can leave the cheese out, but I think it adds to the dish.

Farro Enchilada Casserole

I tried farro a while back and fell in love with it.It is often used as a substitute for pasta or rice. Farro is a grain with a nutty flavor similar to brown rice. It is rich in fiber, magnesium and vitamins A, B, C, and E. Anything that tastes like rice is OK with me. Plus it only takes minutes in my pressure cooker…..yeah I’m still on that craze!

Farro Enchilada Casserole

You can’t go wrong with a Mexican theme for any meal and I am a enchilada lover…….even with no meat. Black beans, corn, enchilada sauce, chilies, cumin and chili power added to cooked farro, then baked with or with out cheese. Can’t you just smell those spices…….

Tomatoes, avocado, and green onions for garnish…….so tasty you won’t miss the meat.

Farro Enchilada Casserole

This dish makes plenty, so we had leftovers. For you carnivores……… day two recipe……..make burritos.

We grilled chicken tenders, sliced them added them to the warmed casserole. Wrapped them in tortillas, with extra cheese and salsa……..they were awesome.

Farro Enchilada Casserole is a vegan/vegetarian dream come true recipe and on day two can be revamped to satisfy those who love the meat!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole Collage

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Farro Enchilada Casserole

  • Author: Marty Boyd
  • Yield: 6 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup farro
  • 1 (10-ounce) can Old El Paso™ mild enchilada sauce
  • 1 (4.5-ounce) can Old El Paso™ chopped green chiles, drained
  • 111 ounce can corn, drained
  • 115 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 cups Mexican blend cheese, shredded, divided
  • 1/2 avocado, seeded, peeled and diced
  • 1 Roma tomato, dice
  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • Cilantro for garnish

Instructions

  1. Cook farro according to package directions.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with nonstick spray.
  3. In a large bowl, combine farro, enchilada sauce, green chiles, corn, black beans, cilantro, cumin and chili powder; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in 1 cup Mexican blend cheese.
  4. Spread farro mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Place into oven and bake until bubbly and cheeses have melted, about 15 minutes.
  5. Serve immediately, garnished with avocado, tomato, and cilantro if desired.

 

Crunchy Buffalo Pierogies

You like the flavor of Buffalo Wings?……….but you are a vegetarian…….Crunchy Buffalo Pierogies! Problem solved!!!!!

Crunchy Buffalo Pierogies 4

Meat free but packed with the flavor of buffalo and an added crunchiness. Continue reading “Crunchy Buffalo Pierogies”

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers are a dish found in different forms, and with different names all around the world. Here in the good old USA, they are typically stuffed with a ground beef rice mixture with a tomato base. Recipes are all different, but most involve removing the seeds and membranes from the pepper, then boiling them, stuffing them, and baking them again, covered with cheese…….and they are great!

So, how do you improve on a good thing …….you make it better…….Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers!

We had a bumper crop of green peppers at the end of the gardening season……..beautiful shiny green and really large. They begged to be made into stuffed peppers.

Now, I suppose I could have made my good old Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe, but with the leaves changing and that smell of autumn in the air, why not try something……. autumny.

I’m am a huge fan of pearl couscous, and am lucky that our grocery store carries it in the frozen section……yeah! But for this recipe if you don’t have that luxury or you can’t find the pearl type, the regular kind will work just as well. The couscous was my sub for rice.

For veggies, I picked flavors I associate with fall……..fennel,squash,cranberries,and sage…….they blended with the couscous beautifully. Cooking all of it with chicken broth (if you want a total vegetarian dish you can use vegetable broth) and a touch of apple cider vinegar, gave it all a nice glazed quality.

Now, that whole boiling the pepper thing……..not so much. It makes them mushy in my opinion, and there is really no need to go to all that trouble. Just stuff them, and cover them with foil, it steams them instead.

Stuffed Peppers

Since the “stuffing” was not saucy, it needed a sauce…….my new favorite sauce…….Creamy Cauliflower Sauce. The only change I made was to use shallot instead of garlic. It was sooooo yummy over these Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers. I keep trying to think of ways to use this tasty sauce!

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers Sauce

When I started this dish, it was not my intent to make it vegetarian, it just sorta happened. Lucky for all you vegetarians out there…..wait a minute, also lucky for those who are not………and if you are not, maybe after you try this dish you will be……….

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers Collage

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Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Peppers

  • Author: Marty Boyd
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups cooked pearl couscous
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 shallot, diced, about 2 tablespoons
  • 1 fennel bulb, diced, about 1 cup
  • 2 ½ cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
  • 2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
  • ¾ cup dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts toasted
  • 1 ½ cups chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • kosher salt and pepper
  • 2 large green peppers cut in half lengthwise
  • Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Instructions

  1. Heat coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the shallot and cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add diced fennel and cook for another 5 minutes or until fennel softens. Add butternut squash, sage, cranberries, chicken broth, and cider vinegar and cook for 15 minutes or until butternut squash has softened and almost all of the liquid has cooked down. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Add couscous and pine nut to the mixture in the skillet. Stir to combine.
  2. In a baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, place the green pepper halves. Stuff the peppers with the the couscous mixture. Cover with tin foil and bake in a 375* oven for 30-35 minutes.
  3. To serve,place one pepper half on plate or in a shallow bowl and top with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce and garnish with chopped sage leaves if desired.

Notes

Pre time does not include making the Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Keywords: couscous, fennel, butternut squash, cauliflower sauce

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Pepper Label