Eat Skinny: Vegetarian Barley Stuffed Peppers Recipe | The Realistic Nutritionist (2024)

05.30.12

Holy Wednesday, batman! I always forget how fast weeks go by after a long weekend. Even though I worked on Monday, it still feels like this week is BLOWING by. Which is fine by me because I’m going to a very special wedding this weekend in Ohio! My cousin Curt and his fiancèClaregot engaged the day after my wedding and I’m pretty excited to see their big day come together.

The bride to be and I in Arizona!

Even though I have packing, tanning and working out to do before we leave on Friday, I have to share this delicious stuffed pepper recipe I threw together yesterday.

When I say “throw together” I literally mean throw together. I was digging in my produce drawer and stumbled upon two large peppers. Then, I remembered I had some vegetarian sausage in the freezer. Ideas starting brewing. As I perused the pantry, I found barley. And that’s when it hit me. Stuffed peppers! Yes!

Barley, to me, is like quinoa’s neglected step sister. Never gets used in much of anything and is often overlooked. Well, I think it’s pretty awesome and it really stands out in this pepper. It’s filling without being too heavy and really absorbs the flavor of the sausage, onions and goat cheese.

This is the perfect dinner if you don’t really want to do dishes (aka every night for me) since all you need is a fork to eat it! Or, be like my husband and just eat the thing like an apple. I made him eat it over a plate since it was showering onto the floor and the dogs were getting a treat.

I know. That’s my life. Feel sorry for me please.

Barley Stuffed Peppers

Serves 2
Prep time: 15 – 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 bell peppers, hollowed out
• 1/2 cup ground vegetarian sausage
• 1/2 cup barley, cooked
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Dash of salt and peper
• Fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons goat cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium pan, add onion and cook about 2 minutes. Add sausage and cook until browned, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Add barley, chopped basil and pepper to the pan and mix well.
3. Stuff peppers until full with mixture. Sprinkle with additional basil leaves. Top each pepper with about 1 tablespoon goat cheese.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese is browned and melted. Enjoy!

Nutritional information per pepper:

Calories: 377
Fat: 14.5 grams
Carbohydrates: 32.5 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Protein: 20 grams
Weight Watchers Points: 9