Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed bell peppers are one of those things that I never remember having had before I was an adult. I talked to my mom the other day and she said that she used to make them when I was a kid, but for the life of me I can't remember having them. Its weird because I really do LOVE them. Before, I made them with hamburger and couscous, which wasn't terrible for us I guess, but when I decided to make them again last week I thought "I can go lighter!" 

Costco had bags of six red bell peppers for a smokin' deal so I used those. I like them better than the green ones, don't you?

Instead of couscous, I used quinoa (I just learned today that its pronounced kin-wah, so yea I've been sounding like a moron all week bragging about my kwi-noah stuffed peppers) which is awesome because not only does it have lots of fiber and other nutrients, its a complete protein, which is really hard to find in a plant. 

So I cooked the quinoa in my rice cooker. While that was going, I sauteed up a yellow onion and some garlic. Then I dumped in a can of diced tomatoes, juice and all, and let that simmer while the quinoa finished cooking. When the quinoa was finished, I dumped it into the pan (btw, I used a really big skillet for the onion/tomato mixture) and then seasoned it with sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I mixed it all up, stuffed it in my emptied-out peppers, put them into a baking dish, sprinkled just a tiny amount of mozzarella cheese on top and stuck them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so, just till the cheese was nice and melty.

What came out of my oven was a beautiful, protein packed, vegetarian's delight!

The picture turned out kind of dark because I'm using my iPhone, but I think you can appreciate the beauty of its meat-free yumminess.

I threw a little cottage cheese in there with it (AWESOME move) and dug in. Delish! It was a filling but light summery meal.