Quinoa - Stuffed Peppers

I am so excited for today's post. I picked 5 delicious green peppers from my garden!!! This is my first year gardening so everything I am able to pick and eat, I am excited!!!! :)

I am so glad that so many peppers were ready at one time because I have been craving stuffed peppers. I love stuffed peppers!

The Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 Tbs. ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved (I used homemade sauce, instead)
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 1 large carrot, finely chopped
• 4 large green bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed
• The original recipe called for 1 can of black beans. I did not have black beans so I used ground beef.

The Directions:

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute.

Cook ground beef and drain all the grease.

Prepare quinoa, if not already made. 1 cup quinoa 2 cups water ( see post on cooking quinoa)

Stir in quinoa with the carrot mixture. Add cooked ground beef. Add tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.

Fill each bell pepper half with heaping 3/4-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish. Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour. Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper with 1 Tbs. remaining cheese. Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer stuffed peppers to serving plates, and drizzle each with pan juices before serving.