Queen of Quinoa

There are days when I give in to what’s left in the fridge as my dinner. Usually it’s like a mental cleanse for me. I don’t want to spend more money. I don’t want to drive to the grocery store. And, frankly, I’m tired of throwing food out. (My boyfriend, for some reason, thinks that the two of us equal an army and will cook too much food and he ends up hoarding containers of chicken, pasta, soup and whatever else we at that week in the refrigerator.) So the other day I challenged him to make something out what we’ve already got. “You do it,” said. Fine! The challenge was mine, apparently.

We’ve had a bag of quinoa in our pantry for some time but have never had the occasion to use it. But with my heels to the ground on making a meal out of food we’ve already got, the trendy grain was now my base. A bag of mini sweet peppers would be the vessel and some shredded cheese would top it all off: spicy quinoa stuffed peppers. I would also get to use some of the spices we have, too.

Here’s what I did:

8 mini sweet peppers, stem and seeds removed

1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package instructions

Spices, as desired (I used pinches of salt, pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes, but you can use whatever you like!)

8 tsp and 2 tbsp shredded cheese, divided (I liked the strong cheddar to compliment the spices I used.)

NOTE: Now I have to warn you, with this recipe you will have quinoa left over. So the next day, because of the spices I included in the quinoa mixture, I made it into a quesadilla for my lunch. If you don’t want leftovers, use half the amount.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, add the spices and mix well. Taste as you add so you can get the desired flavour you want from your quinoa stuffing. Add 2 tbsp of shredded cheese and mix well. The cheese will melt and make it easy for you to spoon the quinoa mixture into the peppers.

Meanwhile, grab a muffin pan and wrap it with aluminum foil, ensuring that the foil goes into the muffin cups. This works better than a baking sheet as it will help the bumpy-bottom peppers stand instead of toppling over. Once you’ve wrapped it well, begin to stuff the peppers using a spoon. You can be generous with your stuffing, and let it form a peak in the pepper. Do this to all eight peppers. Top each pepper with chese, making sure that it covers both the quinoa and the pepper.

Bake in oven until cheese melts, about 15 minutes. Then turn on broil, for about 2 minutes, until the tops of the peppers are a golden-brown. Serve as a side dish or as a meal.

Let me know if you make this and what spices you used. I’d love to be inspired to do this one again.