Unstuffed Red Pepper Soup

Unstuffed red pepper soup is a high-protein one-pot meal. The blood sugar balancing mix of ingredients includes lean ground beef, rice, bell peppers, onion, tomatoes, and a variety of spices.

Our Registered Dietitians love a one-pot meal that features key ingredients that keep blood sugar levels stable. Let's take a look at the key ingredient line-up:

• Lean Ground Beef: ground beef amps up the protein in the recipe to 30g per serving. Furthermore, beef is rich in highly absorbable heme iron making it a fantastic food source for pregnant women, menstruating women, endurance athletes, or for introducing solids to infants at 4-6 months!
• Red Bell Peppers: red bell peppers offer beautiful colour and a boost of fibre, antioxidants, and key micronutrients like vitamin C. 
• Canned Tomatoes: canned tomatoes are an easy addition to this recipe to give the broth a rich and hearty flavour. 
• Rice: the rice adds a source of energizing carbohydrate to the recipe.
• Cheese: cheese is an optional topping that mimics a classic stuffed pepper you'd prepare with a sprinkle of cheese on-top.
• Flavour: we boosted the recipe with flavour by adding garlic and spices such as thyme, oregano, and basil.

UNSTUFFED RED PEPPER SOUP

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound (454g) lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 red bell peppers, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon thyme*
• ½ teaspoons basil*
• ½ teaspoon oregano*
• 1 large can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato sauce
• 2 cups (500mL) broth _{(eg. chicken broth, beef broth)}
• 2 cups cooked rice
• optional: grated cheese to top!

*note: you can replace the basil, thyme, and oregano with ~2 teaspoons Italian spice

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the lean ground beef in a large pot or a Dutch Oven. When the beef is cooked, drain any excess fat. Remove the beef from the pot and set aside.
2. Add the oil to the pot and add the diced onion and bell pepper alongside the grated garlic, salt, and spices. Cook for 3 minutes until the vegetables have soften.
3. Add the ground beef back to the pot alongside the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and soup broth. Bring the mixture to a boil and then immediately reduce to a simmer. Place the lid on the pot and let simmer for 20 minutes. 
4. While the soup simmers, prepare the rice. This is also a great recipe to use up and leftover rice you have from previous meals!
5. When the soup has simmered for 20 minutes, stir the cooked rice into the soup.
6. Serve the soup with sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese if desired!

KITCHEN TOOLS

• Dutch Oven

DIETITIAN TIPS

We love that this hearty soup recipe is balanced in the four food groups we teach inside our nutrition coaching program:

• Protein: ground beef
• Carb: rice
• Volume: bell pepper, onion, and tomatoes
• Fats: some from the ground beef and the optional cheese

This mixture of protein, carb, volume (fibre!), and fats helps to keep blood sugars level which relates to a variety of positive outcomes and is a foundational strategy for many goals including athletic performance, improving energy, changing body composition, improving hormone health, PCOS, peri-menopause and menopause, and managing chronic conditions like diabetes.

WANT TO LEARN HOW TO BUILD MEALS FOR YOUR GOALS?

Our team of Registered Dietitian support clients through nutrition counselling and coaching to teach them how to build balanced meals and snacks to reach their specific goals. After working with one of our dietitians, you'll understand how to build meals to suit your preferences and have concrete meal and snack ideas to implement into your day! You can book with a dietitian here to get started on your journey!