Stuffed & Baked Vegetables (and fried)

I've been doing well with my lunches (for the last 3 days!) I'll post a full run-down of this weeks meals over the weekend. For now, I thought I would share a dish that I had for lunch today. Stuffed vegetables with rice!

The best thing about this dish is how versatile it is. You can really make it however you want and it's so easy! You can stuff any type of vegetable you want, with any type of filling. It's most often made with ground beef fried with onions and pine nuts but it's very easy to make it vegetarian if you substitute the meat with mushrooms or tofu (haven't ever tried it with those ingredients but just the thought is making my mouth water - will try asap and report back!)

The tray I made consisted of carrots, potatoes, eggplant, and artichoke hearts but I would have loved to include green or red peppers, zucchini, or tomatoes had we had any.

Just as a side note, I don't usually cook with measurements so I'm trying my best right now! Play around with it and see what works best for you.

Artichoke and carrot stuffed with ground beef.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb minced ground beef

2 small onions

2 tbsp pine nuts

Salt and pepper

Vegetables (carrots, potatoes, eggplant, artichoke hearts, green peppers, zucchinis, tomatoes, etc)

Frying oil (optional)

1 tbsp butter

1 cup tomato sauce

1 cup water

2 tsp allspice

DIRECTIONS

Step 1:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Make sure insides of vegetables are scooped out so that you can fill them with stuffing. (You can use one of these things to scoop the insides out)

3. Fill a small pot full of oil and fry the vegetables for about a minute. Place them on a plate to cool. (This part is optional - you can also just put the vegetables straight in the oven but you'll have to give them some extra cooking time)

Step 2: 

1. Scoop the butter on a pan on high heat. Add onions and pine nuts.

2. Add meat and keep mixing until meat is cooked.

Step 3: 

1. Mix tomato sauce with water in a small bowl. Add allspice.

2. Start stuffing vegetables and place them on a tray.

3. Pour tomato sauce into tray and place in oven for 15 - 25 minutes if vegetables were fried or 35-45 minutes if vegetables were raw.

Enjoy with rice or on its own!