Gluten Free Veggie Stuffed Peppers

I've made stuffed peppers with ground beef and ground turkey in the past, and they've always turned out fantastic! This time, I wanted to see if I could make some that were gluten free and packed with veggies, and still super yummy. I gathered all of the vegetables I had in my kitchen, diced them up, sautéed them, and added them to some quinoa and brown rice. I also added some diced tomatoes, kidney beans, and tomato sauce to the mixture. Check out the finished product!

I actually added a little bit of reduced fat cheddar cheese to the top when I served them. I had them all week for dinner, and really enjoyed them! I also tried topping them with a little bit of goat cheese, which was great as well!

Do you want to try some Veggie Stuffed Peppers in your kitchen? They're so easy! Here's what you'll need:

• 4-6 bell peppers (I used red and green) cleaned with tops cut off and hollowed out
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/2 can (about 3/4 cup) kidney beans
• 1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1-8 oz can tomato sauce
• Half of a yellow onion, chopped
• Half of a bell pepper of your choice, chopped
• Half of a sweet potato, chopped
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped butternut squash
• 1/4 cup fresh basil sliced into ribbons (optional)
• Shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese (optional topping)
• EVOO (1/2-1 TBSP)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350F. Once you have your veggies chopped up, warm a circle or two of EVOO in a medium skillet, then throw them in. Sauté until the vegetables are heated through, about 15 minutes. Fold in the kidney beans and diced tomatoes and allow them to heat up for a couple more minutes.

Add the rice, quinoa, and tomato sauce and stir until combined. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. Add basil, salt and pepper, then stir again.

Your hollowed out peppers should look like this:

Try to buy peppers that will stand upright on their own. This will make your life easier :-). Fill each pepper with the mixture as shown below:

Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Top with grated cheese, then bake for 5 more minutes to melt. That's it!

You can add any vegetables you'd like to this. I used what I had on hand. If you're not concerned with being gluten free, you can add some bread crumbs to enhance the consistency. I suppose you could add some egg to the mixture, as well, to act as a binder. These are things I thought of after the fact. Another idea is to add a little bit more tomato sauce and a few medallions of goat cheese to make the consistency creamy. Do you like your food with a kick? Add a diced jalapeño or some crushed red pepper. See the things you can do to change it up!? Get creative and let me know how it turns out! Leave me some love below, and maybe I'll try one of your ideas! Let's put our heads together and make cooking fun!

Happy Trails!

Stacey

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