Stuffed Bell Peppers

These are the perfect summer food. About the time bell peppers go on sale, you can also get sausage for pretty cheap, and this dish just begs to be made. Ryan and I love this, and Peter munched his down as well.

(Just a note about the picture - the lettuce, all varieties, is from our own garden {yummy!}, and I'll post the banana bread recipe next. It's the same one a few of you tried this week.)

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Stuffed Bell Peppers

original recipe from Utah Deal Diva here; I made several adjustments

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Ingredients (to make 6)

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Variety of Bell Peppers (I like to choose colors to contrast with the tomatoes - yellow, green, or orange are good, but get what's on sale)

1 C quinoa, measured dry

1 lb sausage

2 Tbsp onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded

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Directions

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1. Cut a thin slice off the top of each pepper and clean out the seeds and membranes (save the flesh from the slice and chop it up). Then cover the peppers with water and gently boil for 5-10 minutes until soft.

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2. Cook the quinoa according to directions. I like to cook it in broth - just mix a beef bouillon cube in with the water.

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3. Brown the sausage with the chopped onions and pepper slices. Then stir in garlic, salt, tomatoes, and cooked quinoa and continue cooking until it's all warm.

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4. Stuff the mixture into the softened peppers and place in a casserole dish. If you can stand them up - great, but most of the time I end up just laying mine down carefully. Cover and cook at 350 for 45 minutes.

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5. Remove cover, sprinkle on cheese, and cook an additional 15 minutes.

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Quick tip: If you're short on time, you can reduce the baking time to 30 minutes total, just take the cover off and sprinkle on the cheese for the last 10 minutes. If you're going to do this, let the peppers blanch a little longer in step one to make sure they're nice and tender.

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Substitution tip: You can, of course, use ground beef or turkey in place of the sausage, and rice instead of quinoa (like Jessica did in the original linked above). It will have less flavor then, so I suggest adding a little more salt and garlic, and maybe a shake of crushed red peppers and some italian seasonings like basil and/or oregano.

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Toddler Variation

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I believe in helping my kids "grow up with respect to eating," so I don't like to make a completely separate dish for Peter. Still, there are some things that I don't feel comfortable plopping down on his high chair tray as is quite yet. In an effort to help him get accustomed to "grown-up food" without giving him a tummy ache, I occasionally make minor adjustments to his serving. If I do this, I'll make a note at the end of the recipe for the benefit of other toddler moms. (Yes, I know Peter is not technically a toddler yet, but he eats more like one than an infant.)

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Spoon some extra stuffing (make sure the sausage is well broken up) into the casserole dish along with the peppers and cook like normal (don't forget the cheese!). Then stuff it in potatoes - for this dinner I just made a small serving of instant mashed potatoes in the microwave, made a "volcano," and filled it with the stuffing. If you have leftover mashed or baked potatoes, use those instead. Peter munched it down with gusto.