Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

The other night I made Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, loosely, following a recipe I found here. I say loosely because I thought I had some of the ingredients at home to end up not having them; and I recently killed the cilantro plant that I bought with the intention of having the cilantro last longer.

pardon the iphone photo it looks worse now

Also so you don't make the same mistake I did (major blonde moment!) one cup of uncooked quinoa equals about 2-3 cups cooked. Yup, you guessed it I did three cups uncooked and had an abundance. I'll wait while you finish laughing, but notice it says nothing about cooking in the title of my blog.

Ron posted the below picture on Facebook of the leftovers he took to work and I received many requests for the recipe so I figured I'd share here too.

I will have to remember to take a picture the next time I make them.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked quinoa (1-1/2 c uncooked)
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1 can black beans with jalepano peppers, drained and rinsed
• 1 can tomato paste (was supposed to be 1/2 c diced tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded mexican cheese
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves parsley
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 6 bell peppers, tops cut, stemmed and seeded

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, corn, beans, tomato paste, cheeses, parsley, cumin, garlic, onion and chili powder, salt and pepper, to taste.
3. Spoon the filling each each bell pepper cavity. Sprinkle extra cheese on top. Place on prepared baking dish, cavity side up, and bake until the peppers are tender and the filling is heated through, about 25-30 minutes.
4. Serve immediately. Enjoy the crispy baked cheese that is on the parchment paper - YUM!

We had them with some kale "salad". I washed and removed the stem, drizzled some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Simple, delicious and good for you!