These ain’t yo mama’s stuffed peppers.
You know, the green ones stuffed with tomato-y rice and ground beef….
Although I do love those and I also have a great recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup that tastes just like them. Mmmm.
These are a new take on an old favorite. I made them pretty much out of necessity.
We needed dinner. I didn’t have time to get to the grocery. The fridge was pretty bare except for some shredded cheddar and a big bag of red bell peppers that I got on sale at Trader Joe’s for $.69/each.
This is when it really pays off to have a decently stocked pantry. I should write a post on that!
The items in the pantry that inspired this dinner were:
Black Beans
Quinoa
Chicken Stock
Onions
Garlic
Frozen Corn
Each of those things is easy to keep around because they are either shelf-stable, last a long time in the right conditions or are frozen.
So back to dinner…
I’d seen this pin on Pinterest when I first joined the site. It’s a gorgeous photo and was obviously memorable since I thought of it all this time later.
I wanted to bulk up the recipe to make it a main dish so I added quinoa. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a thing for quinoa.
With 9 grams of protein, 30 milligrams of calcium and 15% of the USDA’s recommended allowance of iron per cup, it’s a heart-healthy, polyunsaturated fat containing, vitamin B & folate POWERHOUSE.
Do your body a favor and run to the store to buy some quinoa!
But I digress…
The recipe on Pinterest was a great starting point and I just made a few tweaks of my own to make this a main dish.
Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers
adapted from Can You Stay For Dinner?
The peppers before roasting. I forgot to take an after picture :(
Getting onions nice and soft.
Using dry beans that you prepare in advance would be best (for sodium control) but when you forget to plan in advance, a can of beans will do.
I think the smoked paprika could be optional. I’m still deciding whether or not I like it. The other 3 spices pack a punch so you’d be totally OK just using them.
The “stuffing”
- 3 large red bell peppers
- ½ cup of dry quinoa, prepared according to package directions
- 1 medium sized onion, diced
- 4 clove garlic, minced
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1, 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- pinch cayenne pepper for a little heat (optional)
- ½ cup sweet corn
- ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese, or any cheese you like
- fresh cilantro, salsa, and sour cream for serving would be awesome. I didn't have any of that :(
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut each pepper in half lengthwise and remove seeds and stems. Place peppers on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, until the skins are softened and beginning to blister.
- Heat olive oil in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add your onion and saute for 5 minutes, until they soften and turn translucent.
- Add garlic and stir constantly for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Stir in your black beans along with the water.
- Add your cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt, and cayenne.
- Stir, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer the beans for at least 15 minutes, but up to 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, get your quinoa cooking. It usually takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, so doing it while you are simmering the beans, onions and spices works well.
- After the bean mixture has had a chance to simmer for the 15-30 minutes, add the frozen corn, mix well and simmer for 5 minutes.
- When your quinoa is done, add it to the bean/onion/corn mixture and stir to combine.
- Divide the bean mixture evenly among the roasted pepper halves.
- Sprinkle with cheese
- Broil for 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro, salsa, and sour cream if you you have it. That would be delish!
I can’t wait to try it!!!
:)
Mom
I will definitely be trying this Rebecca! I just bought quinoa at Trader Joe’s and have been trying to get my courage up to try it. Thanks for sharing, this looks delicious!
AB, I’m so glad you tried this and emailed me a picture! That’s by far my favorite part of blogging :)
::DROOLS::
Holy cow these look amazing.
Must pin…