Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

"Life itself is the proper binge." - Julia Child

I went to dinner at my sister's house a few weeks ago and she made incredible quinoa stuffed peppers. I didn't have the ingredients to make the same recipe a few weeks later, so I made up my own. It is more of a mexican quinoa stuffed pepper, and I also cut them a little different (pictures of both types below). I encourage you to play around with ingredients and shaping your peppers, it's a lot of fun and quinoa is super versatile!

(my sister's turkey and quinoa peppers)

(my mexican quinoa stuffed peppers)

Ingredients:

1/2 diced yellow onion

1T olive oil

1/4 cup cooked pancetta (can replace with ground beef or shredded chicken)

2 cloves diced garlic

1/2T cumin

7 ounces petite cut diced tomatoes

1 cup water

1/2 cup quinoa

1 teaspoon fresh cilantro

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

3 bell peppers (any color, but I found red the tastiest) 

1/2 t salt

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400F. In a large pan cook onion, cumin, olive oil, and diced garlic on med/high heat for five minutes. Add tomatoes and cook an additional 5 minutes. 

Step 2: Add water and turn heat to high, bringing the mixture to a boil. Add the quinoa and cilantro. Let cook for 10-20 minutes, depending on the recommendation of your specific type of quinoa (on the book--mine was 20 minutes). 

Step 3: Once quinoa is cooked, add pancetta, salt, and parmesan cheese. Stir thoroughly. 

Step 4: Cut your peppers to the desired shape and de-seed and remove stem. Place the peppers on a cooking sheet covered with tin foil. Fill the peppers with your cooked mixture. Cover peppers with loose tin foil and cook in oven for 25 minutes.

Step 5: Remove peppers from oven and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Cook in oven, uncovered, for an additional 7-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Serves 2-3.