Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

HOORAY for awesome recipes!! I have been trying out new ones a lot lately and luckily finding some gems!

Tonight I made Quinoa Stuffed Peppers and they were a hit! Hubby even enjoyed them. They are packed with veggies - which makes me super excited and they pack protein from black beans and quinoa. I think next time I will use Daiya in lieu of the regular cheese to make it vegan. Now, if only I could get my son to eat these.

So here is the recipe – It calls for 4 peppers (so you get 8 halves, obviously) but the mixture makes way more than that. You can either buy twice as many peppers as it calls for, or save/freeze the rest of the mixture for quick/easy prep next time.

1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 ribs celery, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
2 Tbs. ground cumin
4 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp.)
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
¾ cup quinoa - uncooked
3 large carrots, grated (about 1 ½ cups)
1 ½ cups grated reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese, divided (or other cheese of your choice)
4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in spinach and drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.

2. Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots, and 2 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender.

3. Meanwhile, cut your bell peppers lengthwise, remove the seeds and ribs and microwave them all together for about 5 minutes – then boil them for a few minutes.

4. When quinoa is done, stir 1 cup of cheese in to the mixture. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.

5. Fill each bell pepper half with heaping 3/4-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish. Bake for about 10 minutes, then sprinkle each pepper with 1 Tbs. remaining cheese if desired. 5-10 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer stuffed peppers to serving plates, and drizzle each with pan juices before serving.

Here is the photo from the website I got the recipe off of: