Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

This was a nice twist on a typical Spanish or Mediterranean stuffed peppers. Another plus, no side dish required. These were filling. They also freeze great and make for an excellent round two breakfast as seen below...

Serves: 8

Time: active: 50

total: 2 h

Gather up:

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• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped (½ cup)
• 1 Tbs. ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (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
• 3 large carrots, grated (1½ cups)
• 1½ cups grated reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese, divided
• 4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed
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1. 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.

Stir in 1 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.

4. Fill each bell pepper half with heaping ¾-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish.

 Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour.

Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper with 1 Tbs. remaining cheese.

Bake 15 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.

Serve With- a simple green salad if you'd like. These alone are very filling though!

Recipe Credit: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/

Round Two Meal

Ok, so the peppers alone were good. But here's where I was sold that I would be making them again in the future. The round two meal. Stuffed peppers turned into a breakfast hash. So good. 

Simply break up the stuffed pepper and reheat. 

Top with hot sauce, an egg and a little more cheese...