Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Italian Sausage and Qunioa Stuffed Peppers

By Sunday night, C was ready for a change from the traditional Thanksgiving fare (we had two celebrations on Thanksgiving Day and another on Sunday + the left-overs his Mom sent) so he asked me for something different and these stuffed peppers fit the bill!  They took a little longer to bake than we expected but turned out great!  The process is easy and they could be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge and popped in the oven for an easy weeknight meal.  C said they were even better for lunch the next day after the flavors had a chance to develop together.

Ingredients:
1 lb Italian Sausage
1 onion, diced
1 cup cooked qunioa (you know, because one of us is kind of Primal around here)
2 tbs tomato paste
4 large peppers (we used a pack of multi-colored ones)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (we used mozzarella)

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a skillet, saute sausage and onion until browned and cooked through.  Drain on paper-towels to remove extra fat.  While sausage is browning, clean peppers, removed seeds and white membranes from inside and cut off top for filling.
Filling mixture, combined!
3. In a bowl, combine sausage/onion mixture with qunioa, tomato paste and most of cheese, reserving a little for the top of each pepper.

Peppers, Stuffed!
4.  Spoon filling into peppers, until it reaches the top.  Top with remaining cheese.  Spray baking dish with cooking spray and place peppers in baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 30-45 minutes or until peppers are tender.  Remove foil to allow for cheese to brown for a few minutes.  Remove from oven and serve!

Topped with Cheese, ready for the oven!
C decided to try one with a slice of
pepperjack, he liked it.
Finished product!
This recipe could be adapted so many ways with any rice or grain in your pantry and ground meat in your freezer.  Next time, I would like to add another veggie or two in the filling...any thoughts on what I should try?

4 comments:

Alicia said...

These look great! Definitely on my recipes to make list soon.

Unknown said...

They were yummy and I don't even like peppers that much! I think they will become part of our regular menu rotation.

Alicia said...

I just made these and they were delish! I am not a huge fan of peppers either, but had the red one and it was awesome. My mix was hot Italian turkey sausage, red quinoa, mozz cheese, spinach, and pinto beans (couldn't find black beans in my pantry) and they were really filling, will definitely make again and use whatever ingredients I have to make it different each time.

Unknown said...

Glad they turned out for you and I agree, these are versatile, you could throw in anything! Loved the idea of adding spinach and beans!