Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
1/2 cup quinoa
1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed well
4 small scallions, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
4 large red peppers
4 or 5 zucchini, chopped coarsely
4 slices vegan cheese, divided
1. Bring 1/2 cup water to boil, add quinoa, stir, turn off heat and cover for 15 minutes. In a bowl, combine beans, scallions, tomatoes, and spices.
2. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Take peppers and cut the tops off about 1" down. Clean them out. Add the cooked quinoa to the bean mixture and combine. Pack the mixture tightly into the peppers and place in a dish for baking.
3. Pack zucchini around the peppers to keep them standing. Fold the vegan cheese slices until small 1/4 size squares. Place cheese on top of pepper and put the top back on.
4. Take 3 toothpicks and push them down the pepper through the lid to anchor into the pepper base. Bake 20 minutes uncovered, then cover for 20-30 more minutes, until done.
It was wonderful, even better the next day.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I subtracted the cumin & added Italian seasonings to the quinoa mixture. Really good!
I made a few modifications to this. First, I used brown rice instead of quinoa because my hubby doesn't particularly like quinoa. Second, I used black beans, and third I omitted the zucchini (my peppers stood up fine w/o it). All told, we decided we like this better than the ground beef counterpart we ate before we became vegan. Thanks!
I used cajun seasoning the other night and it was great. ;)b
this was so easy and awesome, my boyfriend loved it as well. he hates kidney beans, so i subbed in black beans for it, but i just love beans and would think kidney would be very good in it! yum yum yum.