Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

These delicious stuffed peppers are colorful, tasty and very filling. Added bonus: they're vegetarian (adapted from this recipe)!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

(Yields 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1-15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1-15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 3 large carrots, grated
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 4 large bell peppers, halved lengthwise
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Drain diced tomatoes - save the liquid!
2. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add olive oil (enough to coat pan). Saute onion until translucent, about 5 minutes
3. Add garlic and cumin, saute for 1 minute. Add spinach and tomatoes. Cook another 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated
4. Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots and water. Cover pan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer quinoa stuffing for 20 minutes or until quinoa is tender
5. While the quinoa stuffing is cooking, preheat oven to 350°F. Pour the reserved tomato liquid into the bottom of a baking dish
6. When quinoa is tender, stir in 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
7. Fill each pepper half with a heaping scoop of the quinoa stuffing and place in a baking dish (I only had 3 large bell peppers, so I just saved the extra filling - it's delicious to eat on its own!)
8. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes
9. Uncover baking dish. Sprinkle about 1 Tbsp. of remaining cheese on top of each stuffed pepper. Bake another 15 minutes
10. Let stand 5 minutes before serving

Here are the stuffed peppers out of the oven: