Last week we found some great looking bell peppers on sale at the grocery store.  Normally I buy a couple to add to my lunch salads, but I put six into a bag. Then I thought.ooohhh. Stuffed bell peppers. I hadn’t made them in years and it sounded good. If you’ve been following me for the last couple of weeks, you’ll know that I’ve had a problem lately planning meals successfully…or at all. Anyway, I didn’t think much about it until the day I was expected to make them for dinner.

I remembered the green ones my mother made a few times with a ground beef and rice stuffing topped with some type of tomato sauce mixture. That didn’t sound very appealing, and my ground beef was frozen solid, and I don’t really keep rice in the kitchen these days. So what to do…what to do?

What could I use to make stuffing? Then I remembered watching my mother make stuffing every year for Thanksgiving. Practically my favorite meal of the year full of carbohydrates and carbohydrates and even more carbohydrates. Oh, and some turkey. My mom’s stuffing was the same every year, but she never used a recipe that I saw. She always chopped the same veggies, used the same chicken stock, and the same box of Mrs. Cubbison’s dressing mix. So I took that general idea and pulled off a riff on her stuffing methodology.

I gathered some veggies, used some tomato bouillon, and found quinoa to take the place of bread cubes. Added some cheese and baked them for about 30 minutes. I have to say, they came out very tasty. The larger peppers were a little under done on the bottoms, but other than that they got a thumbs up.

My roommate asked if I’d used a recipe, and I think she was a bit surprised when I said no. That I just kind of threw it together. She told me I should write it down. I’ve never done that before, but thought I’d give it a shot here, for you.

So…as a disclaimer, I don’t have any nutritional information. I can’t tell you how many calories each pepper is going to be, nor do I really want to spend time doing calculations. So, at best, it’s an excellent recollection of how things transpired that evening. I’ve written it down here for anyone who’s interested in giving it a try.

If you do try it, please let me how they came out. Also, if you have suggestions to improve the recipe please share those too.

See ya next time…

~~Annette~~

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Equipment

• 10″ saute/fry pan (I use my cast iron)
• 1 quart sauce pan (with lid)
• 1 medium baking dish (or the best size to hold your peppers up)
• Mixing bowls
• Grater/shredder
• Cooking wooden spoon (or whatever you usually use)
• Chopping board
• 8″ – 10″ chef knife

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp.    Butter or olive oil or whatever fat you choose
• 1 cu.       Quinoa, uncooked
• 2 cu.       Water
• 6 ea.      Bell peppers (any color), medium size (3″ – 4″ )  You can use bigger ones, just use fewer)
• 1 tbsp.   Light olive oil (not extra virgin)
• 1 ea.       Yellow onion, medium, chopped finely
• 4 ea.       Garlic cloves, minced
• 2 ea.       Celery stalks, chopped finely
• 1 ea.       Carrot, large, chopped finely
• 4 ea.      White mushrooms, large or 6-7 medium , chopped finely
• 1 tbsp.   Dried parsley flakes
• 1 cube    Knorr Caldo de Tomate (tomato bouillon cube — this is just what I had on hand. You can use chicken or beef )
• 1 cu.      Water
• ~~         Salt & pepper, to taste
• 2 cu.      Monterrey jack cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F .

In 1 quart sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. When melted, add quinoa and stir. You’re trying to coat as much of the quinoa as possible. Stir constantly for 1 minute. Immediately add 2 cups water. Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer quinoa for approximately 15 minutes. Set aside on the stove and leave lid on the pot. Don’t peak…it continues to cook and will become nice and soft.  NOTE: The quinoa can be cooked earlier in the day, or even the day before.  Let it come to room temperature after refrigerating.

Slice the tops off your bell peppers. Take off as little as possible. Remove seeds and any large ribs. Shake upside down to remove any remaining runaway seeds. Stand up the peppers in baking dish with NO cover. Place in oven for 20 minutes. NOTE:  You can spray your dish with a release, or even line it with foil to reduce cleanup later.

While the peppers are baking, chop/mince all your vegetables, and put into a mixing bowl to hold. Heat saute/fry pan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and spread around the pan. Add all your chopped vegetables.  Add parsley flakes. Saute until softened and most of the liquid is evaporated.  Dissolve the bouillon cube in 1 cup of water and add mixture to saute pan with vegetable. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil. Add cooked quinoa to pan and mix thoroughly. Let cook until there is no more standing liquid in the bottom of the pan.  Turn off burner. Add 1 cup shredded cheese and mix until combined. It should mostly melt. Just mix it well. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Remove baking dish from oven. With a large spoon, fill peppers with quinoa stuffing. You can round the stuffing on the top to get some extra in the peppers. Use the last of the cheese to top the stuffing. (This is where the foil lined dish comes in handy. Cleaning melted hard cheese off a baking dish can be a nightmare.) Return baking dish to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Suggestions

This was a main dish for us, but it can easily be part of a larger meal. It could accompany any of these.

• Roasted garlic chicken breasts
• Grilled pork chops with sauteed mushrooms & onions
• Grilled flank steak
• Baby spinach & arugula salad with a balsamic dressing