Stuffed Peppers

I have always wanted to make stuffed peppers, but I have never reallly gotten around to it. I bought a big bag of quinoa a while back and have been trying to find suitable recipes for it, but nothing really caught my eye.

I went to my friends a couple of weeks ago, and she made stuffed peppers with quinoa, and figured I would try them out for myself. Traditionally, rice is used in stuffed peppers, but I actually really like the quinoa flavour in this recipe. If you are used to the rice and meat stuffed peppers, this is quite a bit different, but not being a meat eater, I found these quite tasty. However, this recipe may be a little “strange” if you eat meat on a regular basis. But, try it out, you might actually be surprised by these.

1 cup quinoa
½ cup red lentils
1 24oz can diced tomatoes, juice included
1 ½ cups vegetable stock
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
1 cup Asiago cheese
Salt to taste
4 bell peppers, any colour works

In a medium pot, bring to boil the vegetable stock. Add tomatoes, lentils and quinoa. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa “opens” to form little curls. Remove from heat and add ¾ cup of cheese, chopped basil and salt.

While quinoa is cooking, cut the tops off of the bell peppers, and remove seeds and membranes. Cut a small slice off of the bottom of the pepper as well, so that it will stand straight in the dish. Place in an oven safe dish, standing up. Place about a cup of water (depending on the size of your dish) so that there is about ¼ inch of water on the bottom. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of peppers.

Place in a 425 degree oven for about 40 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool for a couple of minutes before eating.

Quinoa Salad

I added shrimp to this for my husband, but it could easily be left out as well. Next time, I think that I will add a can of chickpeas (rinsed and drained of course) for me.

About 30 large shrimp (I used frozen)
2 cups quinoa
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup goats cheese, crumbled

Cook quinoa according to package directions. Sometimes I use vegetable stock to give it more flavour.

While quinoa is cooking, prepare sundried tomatoes, olives, pine nuts and goats cheese in a large bowl.

Once vegetables and cheese are assembled, cook shrimp in a frying pan. Drain the water from the shrimp if you are using frozen.

Once the quinoa and shrimp are ready, add them both to the sundried tomato mixture. You can either serve this warm or cold.

Quinoa and Blueberries

1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1 tsp. organic sugar cane
1 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. slivered almonds

1. In a pot on medium high, combine milk, water and quinoa. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add sugar and maple syrup and cook for another 2 minutes.
2. Top with slivered almonds.