Quinoa Stuffed Red Peppers

If you live in the US, you definitely know that the Super Bowl was on last night (did anyone else think the power going out was really stupid?). Well, I knew the game was going to be filled with tons of junk food so I wanted to counteract all that madness with a healthy dinner. To me, healthy means lots of veggies. Love vegetables. Can’t get enough of them. And for the past year, I’ve been making stuffed peppers filled with quinoa/veggies, so I thought it would be the perfect pre-game meal to help prevent overeating. And guess what? It totally worked! Diet touchdown. Ba-dum tshh. I’m a dork haha.

So the peppers get nicely tender in the oven while the quinoa on top gets crispy. Definitely toss any leftover filling on the baking sheet to crisp up with the peppers…crispy quinoa is beyond awesome. Sometimes I don’t even want to wait to stuff the peppers and just gorge on the filling instead. But after one bite of the pepper/quinoa combo, I forget all about it and just enjoy delicious bliss. Hm…oh, so I’ve been cutting the peppers in half like this instead of how I used to do it by lopping off the top. Two for the price of one with great plate appeal. Waddayathink? I like it.

Before I go, just one more thing. Remember when I posted my last stuffed pepper recipe? It was back in 2011 when I had no idea how to snap a decent a food picture or sound like a real person in these blog posts (dear god I used way too many explanation points). Even though I’m still learning every day, times have clearly changed, so I’m glad I can post a new pepper recipe for everyone to see how this blog has progressed. Oh nostalgia. Anyway, enjoy!

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

6 garlic cloves (minced)

1/2 onion (diced)

8 sundried tomatoes (diced)

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 zucchini (diced)

1 cup chickpeas

3/4 cup tomato sauce

1 cup vegetable broth

1 cup quinoa

2 large red bell peppers

Salt/pepper, to taste

Panko/extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium pan over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Stir in onion, sundried tomato, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using). Add a pinch of salt/pepper. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

Stir in Italian seasoning, zucchini, and chickpeas with a pinch of salt/pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the zucchini starts to become tender.

Add tomato sauce, vegetable broth, and quinoa with a pinch of salt/pepper. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until quinoa is ready (about 20 minutes). Turn off heat.

Cut the peppers in half. Stuff the 4 halves with the quinoa (there will be extra filling). Sprinkle with a little panko and drizzle with oil. Put on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until peppers are tender.

Serve and enjoy!