My entire household loves Italian and Mediterranean style foods, so I’m always trying to work in different recipes with these flavors. Stuffed peppers are great because they force you to eat a whole bell pepper and lots of tomato. Anytime I can get my boys to eat enough veggies, I’m a happy mama!

It’s always great to have forced portion control too. We usually eat these with a side salad.

When you’re shopping for peppers, try standing them up on a flat surface to make sure they will sit up straight when you stuff them. Some peppers are lopsided and will roll right over.

To hollow them, cut a circle around the top stem with a knife. Pull out the seeds and white membranes with your hands.

I chose to make ours with cheese, but you can definitely omit the cheese to make it vegan. I prefer to use high quality cheeses in my cooking. I’m all about saving money, but cheese is one of the areas where I’ll spend a few extra dollars for a tastier, more humanely sourced product. I used a feta imported from Greece in this recipe.

Here’s a picture of the filling before stuffing the peppers. I use fresh herbs from my garden, but dry herbs would work too.

When stuffing the peppers, you want to press the mixture down with the spoon during the process to ensure maximum “stuffage”!

And here’s a pic from right before I covered them with foil and put them in the oven.

Timesaving tip! I like to cook up a bunch of quinoa Sunday night to have ready for recipes and lunches during the week. It can be stored covered in the fridge.

Ingedients:

• 4 green bell peppers
• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 1 can chickpeas / garbanzos, rinsed and drained
• Optional: 1/4 cup feta for stuffing, plus 1/4 cup or so for sprinkling on top
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 fresh cloves of garlic or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 cup sliced kalamata olives
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried. Feel free to switch it up and use other herbs instead such as basil, thyme, or Italian herb blend.
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably flavored with Italian herbs and/or garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• a sprinklin’ of pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400F and cook the quinoa if you don’t have cooked quinoa ready to go. To cook quinoa: place 1 cup dry quinoa and 2 cups water in medium pot. Turn stove on high to bring to boil. Once boiling, recede heat to low and cover. Allow to simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. It usually takes me about 13 minutes. When done, pull off heat and let sit covered for a few minutes.
2. While quinoa is cooking, prepare the peppers to be stuffed. To hollow them, cut a circle around the top stem with a knife. Pull out the seeds and white membranes with your hands. Place in baking dish that they all just fit into.
3. Transfer quinoa to medium bowl and use same pot to sauté onion and fresh garlic (if using). Sauté them in small amount of oil and/or butter until softened.
4. Add chickpeas, cooked garlic and onions, rosemary, oregano, diced tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Do NOT add the tomato sauce, as it is only for the top. Mix ingredients well.
5. Stuff peppers evenly with the mixture.When stuffing the peppers, you want to press the mixture down with the spoon during the process.
6. Add 2 TB water to bottom of pepper baking dish. Cover pepper dish with foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 15 minutes.

Deliciousness! Enjoy!

Feel free to leave comments or questions below.