Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa, Grilled Vegetables and Pesto Sauce is a healthy vegetarian main course that will brighten up any dinner.
Stuffed Pepper with Quinoa, Grilled Vegetables, Caprese Salad and Pesto Sauce
This week on Food Network’s Summer Fest, a group of talented bloggers are featuring farm fresh recipes using Peppers that are in season. Each week, recipes using farm fresh produce will be featured on the Food Network website along with recipes by a group of fabulous food bloggers.
During the summer, I love taking full advantage of all the fresh vegetables at the local farmer’s market as well as my weekly CSA Box supply. With the plethora of zucchini, summer squash, eggplant and peppers, I’ve been grilling vegetables a lot lately.
In fact, I like to make a big batch so quick lunches can be thrown together. Lately, I’ve also been keeping a stash of cooked quinoa in the refrigerator as a protein rich whole grain to toss into salads (technically, quinoa is a seed). I also have been making lots of pesto this summer so usually there’s a jar of some variety of pesto in my refrigerator as well.
This Stuffed Pepper recipe is very loosely a recipe. It’s more of an assembly of ingredients, and in this case, a great way to use up leftover grilled vegetables and some caprese salad from the weekend. Just a few melted mini mozzarella balls and some Pesto Sauce on top make this stuffed pepper a real treat.
These stuffed peppers would make a nice meatless lunch or dinner. To learn more about the health benefits of bell peppers, check out my Bell Pepper Power Foods Post.
Be sure to check out the following recipes from all my friends participating in this week’s Summer Fest!
Cooking With Elise: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
What’s Gaby Cooking: Oven-Roasted Peppers With Herbed Breadcrumbs
And Love It Too: Roasted Red Pepper Paleo Hummus
Feed Me Phoebe: Grilled Flank Steak With Gazpacho Sauce
Big Girls Small Kitchen: Seared Pepper Tacos With Pintos and Avocado Crema
Delicious Lean: Peppery Kung Pao
Daily*Dishin: Shrimp and Chorizo With Red Pepper Chermoula Sauce
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Dip With Baked Corn Tortillas
Thursday Night Dinner: Black Bean and Sweet Pepper Salad
Cooking Channel: 5 Stuffed Pepper Favorites
HGTV Gardens: Garden to Table: Peppers
Sweet Life Bake: Rajas de Poblano con Elote y Crema
Dishin & Dishes: Bacon, Onion and Green Chile “Jam”
Healthy Eats: Peppers for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
FN Dish: Meat and Peppers
Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa, Grilled Vegetables and Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup chopped grilled vegetables
- 1/2 cup cherry tomato caprese or a few mini mozzarella balls and some chopped tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon pesto
- olive oil to brush pepper
Pesto Sauce
- 1 tablespoon pesto
- a squeeze of lemon juice
- water to thin dressing
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
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Cut pepper in half and remove membranes and seeds.
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In a small bowl, toss together cooked quinoa, grilled vegetables, cherry tomato caprese and pesto. Divide stuffing between red bell pepper halves, making sure mozzarella cheese balls are on top so they melt.
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Bake for 10 minutes or until stuffing is heated through and cheese melts.
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To make Pesto Sauce, mix pesto, lemon juice and water to achieve desired consistency.
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Drizzle stuffed peppers with Pesto Sauce before serving.
Clean Eating Stuffed Peppers Recipe {Clean Eating Freezer Meals Cookbook Giveaway}
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Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Millet Black Bean Pilaf and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
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Always have quinoa as a staple in my food pantry! Will definitely be trying this wonderful recipe! Thansk so cmuh for sharing, Jeanette!
I am so loving quinoa right now and am always looking for a new way to fix it! Yum!
I need to make a batch of quinoa so I can give this a try. I think this would be perfect to take for my lunch for work. Great recipe!
This is a great way to use up extra bits of vegetables and extra cooked quinoa. I like to make a batch of quinoa in my rice cooker – that way, I have enough to use for salads, as a whole grain for dinner, or in meatless meals like this one.
I don’t think I can think of a more inviting dish the color looks incredible.
These look awesome Jeanette! I love a good stuffed pepper and I really like how you split them lengthwise instead of stuffing the top!
Thanks France!
Alyssa, so funny, I didn’t even think about stuffing the peppers from the top. I was just thinking it would be easier to stuff it cut lengthwise and that the pepper would take less time to cook through.
Like chickpea flour, quinoa is such a versatile addition to so many things. the peppers look delicious and so right for this time of year.
Richa, I haven’t used chickpea flour other than in baking, so I’m curious how you use it.
I love to make batches of quinoa in my rice cooker and keep it on hand to add to salads and vegetable dishes during the week. This recipe is going on the list!
Lydia, I do love using my rice cooker to make quinoa, so much easier than on the stovetop and always consistently good. I do the same as you – make a batch so I can throw it into whatever I’m making throughout the week. I’m glad you like this recipe. It was a great way to use up all the bits and pieces sitting in my fridge.
Oh my these sounds great! Perfect vegetarian style meal. I can’t wait to give this a try!
Swoon! Gorgeous dish!!
Thanks Katie and Amanda, although I really can’t take credit – fresh vegetables are so naturally vibrant in color!
This is my idea of perfect summer fare. a) you’re using the grill b) it’s full of wonderful ingredients like pesto and cheese and tomatoes and c) it has quinoa so it’s totally filling! Ok, now I’m hungry. Is it dinner time yet?
Brian – I couldn’t agree more – for some reason, summer cooking is so much more relaxing, probably because I don’t feel like I’m running around shuttling the kids and have more time to actually think about what I want to make for dinner.
These look great Jeanette and super healthy!
Love all the flavors, sounds absolutely delicious!!
Thanks Alison and Lisa – these stuffed peppers were really easy to put together since I used little bits of leftovers in my fridge. When you use all fresh ingredients, it’s hard to go wrong.
as always your photographs are beautiful jeanette! i love the versatility of this dish…and i have fallen in love with quinoa. thanks for posting this.
Jeanette, what a gorgeous dish! Perfect for summer. 🙂
Thanks Diane and Sommer – I love the natural beauty of red bell peppers and pesto. It makes my job taking pictures so much easier!