Stuffed Peppers

These are really great! Experiment with the ingredients if you want. Baking time is 1 hour so you might want to prepare the filling in advance. From Vegetarian Times Feb 2009.

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped (½ cup)
• 1 Tbs. ground cumin
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric (optional)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, all liquid reserved
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• ¾ cup quinoa
• 3 large carrots, grated (1½ cups)
• 1/2 C Nutritional Yeast (optional)
• 4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed, keep stems in place because you  need a full bowl to stuff without falling out.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350.

STEP 1

• Add onion and celery, cook 5 minutes, or until soft. 
• Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. 
• Stir in spinach and drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.

STEP 2

• Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots, and 2 cups water. 
• Cover, and bring to a boil. 
• Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. 

STEP 3

• Stir in Nutritional Yeast. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

STEP 4

• Pour all liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.
• Fill each bell pepper half with heaping ¾-cup quinoa mixture (should be plenty for a nice mounded top on each), and place in baking dish. 
• Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour
• Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. 
• Let stand 5 minutes. 
• Drizzle each pepper with pan juices before serving