Good morning! I hope your Monday is off to a good start!
I wanted to pop by today to share a recipe with you all that I talked a bit about last week. The reason I invented these stuffed peppers was because my mom decided to do Meat Free Mondays with me! However, she sprung that decision on me last Sunday evening. When Monday rolled around, I worked all day and then quickly had to make up some MFM dish that wouldn’t scare my mom away from the concept. 😉 (All the rest of my family eat meat at pretty much every meal, so I didn’t want my mom’s first MFM dish to be a disaster.)
The result was a couple of very tasty, simple-to-make, and delicious Mexican Stuffed Peppers. They are chock full of veggies, and the quinoa and cheese give it a good amount of protein. Perfect for Meat Free Monday!
Mexican Stuffed Peppers (egg, nut, and gluten free)
Ingredients:
– 2 bell peppers, any color, cut in half length-wise
– 1/2 cup (dry) quinoa + 1 cup cooking liquid
– 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
– 1/2 cup onion, chopped
– 3 cups fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
– 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
– 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
– 2 tsp. homemade taco seasoning
– 2 tbsp. water
– 1/2 cup, or more if desired, Mexican-style shredded cheese, divided
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400*F. Line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Remove ribs and seeds from the insides of the peppers and set aside.
- Combine quinoa and cooking liquid (I used broth, but you can use water) in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, or until quinoa is cooked through.
- Meanwhile, saute green bell pepper and onion in a skillet until just tender.
- Add spinach, corn, and tomatoes, and stir. Sprinkle taco seasoning over and add water. Cook everything until the water is evaporated and spinach is wilted.
- Remove from the heat and stir in about 1/4 cup of the cheese.
- Spoon filling into prepared peppers, top with the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese, and bake for about 25 minutes, or until pepper is softened, cheese is melted, and filling is heated through.
- Enjoy!
Notes:
– You could add in 1/2 cup black or pinto beans to this for more texture, fiber, and protein. The only reason I didn’t was because we didn’t have any on hand!
I’m linking this post up to Katie’s Marvelous in my Monday. Thanks for hosting, Katie!
Have a great day, everyone!
Liv Lives Life 
These look delicious. I actually have stuffed peppers on our menu for this evening 🙂
These sound fantastic! I have all of the ingredients at home and no dinner plans for tonight so this will probably happen! I even took the kernels off the cob from dinner last knew because I knew they would come in handy…Perfect recipe! Pinned 🙂
If you tried it, I hope you enjoyed it! Corn right off the cob is so good!
I love quinoa and this recipe sounds so GREAT! I’ve not used quinoa to stuff a pepper before – thanks so much for the inspiration for dinner one night this week!
Shashi @ http://runninsrilankan.com
Thanks! I figured it would only boost the protein and keep it GF! 🙂 I hope you tried and liked it!
This looks so tasty!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Yum…. these look so delicious! I love stuffed peppers, but I don’t think I’ve ever tried stuffing them with quinoa. I need to give these a try! Happy #MIMM!
These look amazing!
These looks so good and nutritious! I love stuffed peppers, and your recipe packs in a lot of veggies! Always a win in my book. 🙂 I might just have to make some stuffed peppers before I head back to school!
I love that your mom is joining you! There’s nothing better than having your healthy habits rub off on those you love 😀 And this recipe sounds delicious! You can never go wrong when cheese is involved.
Yeah, I’m pretty happy about it. 🙂 Thanks!
[…] if you missed it, I also posted a new Meat Free Monday recipe: Mexican Stuffed Peppers. It’s a good one, if I do say so […]
These sound delicious. I did stuffed peppers last year with black beans and they were fantastic. I have a ton of peppers right now too, so I think I need to get on that.
I love love love Mexican stuffed peppers! I tend to always make mine the same way so I’m excited to have a new recipe to try. I love that you made them with quinoa, one of my favorites!