Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

My husband and I really like quinoa and try to work it in our diet as often as we can. It's gluten free (yay) and a great source of protein. 

I can't seem to find the source for the original recipe that I used when making this (I tweeked the original recipe and wrote that down in my notebook) so I'm sorry that I'm not giving you credit if you're reading this! I made this awhile ago so I can't remember the site! If I do ever find the source, I will add it on here. 

Here's what I used:

2 bell peppers

1/2 -3/4 C of quinoa

1 1/2 C of water 

diced zucchini

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 clove of garlic 

Olive oil

Tomato paste

Oregano

Salt, pepper 

-Bring 1 1/2 C of water to a boil. Prepare quinoa as directed on pkg (straining under cold water, etc).

Stir quinoa into the boiling water. Cover and cook for around 15 minutes. 

Let stand for another 5 minutes, still covered. 

Fluff with a fork and set aside. 

Now for the peppers....

-Cut out the core from the peppers. Be careful!

-Pull out ALL seeds and rinse peppers inside and out. 

-Place the peppers cut side down on a plate, microwave on high power until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside to cool. 

In large skillet, heat oil over med-high heat.

-Add garlic, tomato paste, zucchini, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in cooked quinoa, remove skillet from heat. 

-Place peppers cut side up in roasting pan. 

-Spoon the quinoa filling into pepper and fill the pan with water 1/2 in deep.

Bake at 350 degrees until top is lightly brown and crunchy, about 30 minutes. I added some shredded cheese at the end of cooking. 

Yum, yum! 

We loved them! Can't wait to make them again!

Served with salad with feta cheese and cornfritter muffins!