Both of these healthy and scrumptious recipes are from The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook, by Melissa Costello. The stuffed peppers are on page 161 and the kale salad is on page 117.

The peppers were nutritional powerhouses, stuffed with quinoa, beans, tomatoes, spinach, celery, carrots, and onion, and spiced with cumin and coriander. They were really tender and juicy, and quite meaty, actually.

We soaked and cooked some dried black beans in advance instead of using canned beans. Fresh, home-cooked beans always taste better than canned and they are much more nutritious.

We made extra stuffed peppers and froze them to heat up later.

They paired nicely with the raw kale salad, which was alive with flavors of chipotle, tahini, and lemon, and tossed with cherry tomatoes, slivered almonds and hemp seeds. What a great way to eat your raw greens! We will definitely be making both of these dishes again.

Thanks for the EXCELLENT cookbook, Cheryl and Joe. 🙂

Kale Factoid: Kale is on the menu for the adult hippopotamuses at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. Each hippo eats 10 pounds of kale, 3 gallons of high-protein cereal pellets, and ¼ bale of alfalfa hay a day!