Quinoa-Black-Bean Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 carrot (diced)
• 1/4 onion (finely chopped)
• 1/8 green pepper (finely chopped)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• liberal use of pepper
• 1/2 15oz can black beans (rinsed)
• 1/2 teaspoon savory
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 2 red bell peppers (halved)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (additional)

Instructions

1. In a pot, start preparing quinoa with vegetable broth.
2. While quinoa is cooking (I had started prepping the vegetables at this time), in a separate fry pan, heat oil on medium. Add carrot, onion, green bell pepper, salt and pepper. Sauté for about 3-4 minutes until onion is translucent.
3. When quinoa has finished cooking. Add quinoa, beans, savory, thyme, and rosemary to the fry pan where you are cooking the vegetables. Cook for an additional 3 minutes, stirring as needed to prevent any from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Remove the quinoa mixture from the pan (completely) into a separate bowl. Start preparing the red bell peppers by filling the quinoa mixture to the top (you might have some extra filler left over).
5. Add the second measure of olive oil to the fry-pan that you just emptied. Continuing on medium heat, place the filled bell peppers and cover for about 6 minutes. Occassionally, use a spatula to ensure the pepper is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
6. After the pepper is tender to your liking, remove from pan and serve!

Closing

This is probably one of my best original recipes that I had ever prepared. I will not try to fool anyone, I have heard of stuff peppers, and even had them before. I just did not base mine off an existing recipe. :) I will definitely want to prepare this on again! If I was do anything different, however, I would cook the bell peppers a little longer. I felt they were a bit hard.