Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Serves: 4 Time: 40 mins (+ 1 hr if you decide to make our homemade marinara)

These peppers are delicious, easy to make and major bonus: our baby devours the healthy quinoa filling so it works for the whole family.

Of course, they are better with homemade marinara (everything is better made at home!) so I've included our recipe below but you can totally buy a clean jarred version if you want to save the time. I like PC Organic brand or Rao's, which more expensive but much lower in refined sugar.

Quinoa stuffed peppers

What you need to make this dish:

• 4 organic bell peppers (any colour of your choice)

• 1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package

• 1 cup marinara (Go here for hubby's homemade marinara)

• 1 onion, diced

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning

• Salt & pepper, to taste

• 1 package of mushrooms, sliced

• 1 package of organic cherry tomatoes, roasted

• Fresh basil or parsley, chopped

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVO) + more for drizzling over cooked peppers

• 1/2 cup dairy free cheese (My new fave is VioLife. Daiya works too!)

What you need to do to make this:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Use a sharp knife to pierce each cherry tomato, coat them in olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Roast until browned, about 40 minutes.

3. Cook quinoa according to package instructions.

4. Add 1 tbsp EVO to frying pan, heat to medium and add onion. Saute until translucent.

5. Add garlic, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper and diced mushrooms to the pan. Saute until mushrooms are cooked fully.

6. When cherry tomatoes are done cooking, reduce oven heat to 375F. Add them to your cooked quinoa pot along with the garlic and onion mix and your marinara, fresh basil or parsley. Mix your pepper stuffing well.

7. Remove the bottoms of your four peppers without creating holes so they can stand vertically. If you accidentally cut holes in the bottom, simply use the pepper pieces you cut off to block the holes by inserting them into the pepper and pushing down.

8. Fill your peppers with your quinoa mix, add as much cheese to the top as you can, and bake peppers in oven for 35 minutes. Serve hot.

Lisa xx

If you make this recipe, take a photo and tag @yourbestlifewithlisa