Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Well, today's recipe is just wonderful, delicious and so worth the effort in creating. For all you quinoa lovers out there, I give you "Quinoa Stuffed Peppers"! 

I found this recipe online (google is my friend). I had the idea to make quinoa stuffed peppers, but just wanted to see what others used for ingredients. Recipes that are, hopefully, tried and true. The link to the original recipe online is here. Below is my slightly own take on this dish, but mostly following the recipe I found.

This dish can also be made with ground beef or ground sirloin mixed in with the quinoa, however I opted for the vegetarian route.

QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS

The fresh ingredients you will need (minus the fresh basil as I couldn't find any :( )

Slice 2 peppers in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. (You can use whatever colour pepper you prefer. We enjoy red.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add the peppers for 5 minutes. Then set the peppers onto a baking sheet.

Chop up 1/2 cup carrots into small chunks

Add one cup of chopped onion and one clove of garlic, minced, to the carrots in a frying pan.

Saute' till tender and slightly transparent.

Cook 1 cup of quinoa. Add cooked quinoa to the sauteed veggies and add salt and pepper. If you wish to add a can of diced tomatoes to this recipe, now is the time to add them to the mix as well.

Cook together for 3-4 minutes longer to heat through and then add the fresh basil (I had to opt out for dried basil this time).

Fill each pepper with approximately 3/4 cup of quinoa mixture. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 

350 degrees.

Remove peppers from the oven, sprinkle with parmesan (fresh would be best, but if you don't have fresh, like I didn't, dried works just fine).

Turn your oven to broil and put back in the oven for another 2 minutes, until it's lightly browned.

Enjoy this delicious supper, packed full of healthy grains and nutrients. It was really good warmed up for lunch the next day too. :)

QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS

Ingredients:

2 Lg red bell peppers

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 cup quinoa

2 cups of water

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese (or powdered if need be)

optional

1 14oz can diced tomatoes

organic ground beef or ground sirloin (for directions with beef, please go the original website here)

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add peppers. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove the peppers from the water and set aside

- Heat a large skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots and garlic to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes, until veggies are tender. Add cooked quinoa, salt and pepper (and optional tomatoes). Continue cooking for 3-4 minutes until heated through. Remove from the heat and add the fresh basil.

- Place the pepper halves on a baking sheet or in a baking dish. Fill each cavity with about 3/4 cup of the quinoa mixture. Bake for 15 minutes.

- Set the oven to broil. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese evenly over the stuffed peppers and broil for 2 minutes, until lightly browned.

Serves 4 (or 2 with leftovers for lunch)

Happy Eating!!!