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!
