Stuffed bell peppers are a great way to sneak in some extra veggies into the meal plan. I know not everyone is a fan of quinoa and even though that’s what the recipe initially called for, I substituted brown rice for the quinoa. Brown rice is less expensive and I don’t use quinoa often enough to justify the purchase.
If you are going to use brown rice instead like I did, just substitute the quinoa with 1 cup of cooked brown rice and continue with the rest of the directions.
Enjoy!
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 6 bell peppers (red, green, yellow, doesn’t matter)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ cup diced carrots
- ½ red onion, diced
- 1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 1 15-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ cup grated part-skim mozzarella (I used cheddar because that’s what I had on hand)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Boil 1 ¹/3 cups water in a saucepan; add quinoa. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Keep covered; set aside. Remove pepper tops, stems and seeds. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add peppers, boil for 5 minutes and drain. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add carrots; cook for 3 minutes. Add onion; cook for 5 minutes more. Stir in spinach and beans. Remove from heat and mix in quinoa and chili powder.
Fill peppers with quinoa mixture and place upright in a baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Add just enough water to form a very thin layer in the bottom of the dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are lightly browned. Serve immediately.
**Recipe adapted from SHAPE magazine
LOVE stuffed peppers!! This is different from my recipe, but looks so good. I love the abundance of veggies in it. Thanks for sharing, Mackenzie! Hope you are having an awesome 2015. 🙂
This recipe is really good, Laurie 🙂 Hope you are having a blessed 2015!
Looks very yummy and good-for-you too. I like all the veggies in and that it doesn’t have ground beef in it. I have a weird relationship with ground beef. Take me to a pub bar and I love hamburgers. But otherwise – I’m typically not a fan. Weird, I know. I love quinoa but it is pricy unfortunately. I found some on sale at Sprouts in the bulk section (don’t know if they have Sprouts in Portland) so I bought some. I wish now that I had bought more! LOL!
Oh, I miss going to Sprouts! I used to go there so much back in Cali; they had the freshest fruits and vegetables. And cookies *cough, cough* 😉
These bell peppers are really good; hope you enjoy them!
I love stuffed peppers. Growing up, I loved coming home from school and having the smell of them cooking in the air. I’m going to have to give your recipe a shot. Thanks for sharing!!
No problem! Hope you enjoy them 🙂
Yum!!! If you care to make and mail some over, feel free to do so! 😉
Lol 🙂