Ask and ye shall receive! It looks like me and brothers number 2 and 4 (I am sister 1 of 1 and child number 5 of 5, BTW) are heading North for the weekend. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the ADK so I’m looking forward to a little family time and lots of fresh air.

So, what does a New York City lawyer do when she escapes a night of ordering yet another seamless web dinner to her office lobby? Drinks? Tapas? Mani? How about…

Quiona Stuffed Peppers! (FYI while cooking I had a glass of wine, nibbled on cheese and touched up my polish after doing the dishes. I am so New York.)

For the recipe that I butchered adapted, check out this link.

I had beautiful red peppers I’ve been meaning to eat and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to attempt stuffed veggies. It was pretty simple. You slice them lengthwise, seed, paint the inside and outside with olive oil and roast for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

While the peppers roasted I made quiona. It’s a super healthy grain that goes well with everything from meat, to veggies to eats. It also happens to be very simple to make: place 1 cup quinoa with 3/4 cup liquid (water or broth) in a pot until it boils, then reduce to simmer, cover, and stir occasionally for about 15 minutes. When finished all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa becomes fluffy and looks like this:

Once the peppers were roasting and quinoa was simmering, I sautéed some chopped yellow onion and about 4 cloves of garlic until tender. Next I added frozen sweet corn and fresh diced yellow squash. (I don’t measure out the veggies. It’s usually based on what I have available and what looks pretty/tasty.) I threw in 1 tsp cumin, a couple dashes of rep pepper flags, some sesame seeds, salt and pepper. (Same theory on spices!)Combine enough quinoa and veggies to stuff peppers. (You will have lots of plain quinoa  and sauted veggies left over to eat the rest of the week.)

I also had some left over sautéed spinach and kale, seasoned with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. It didn’t look very good, but it smelled heavenly, so I added it to the stuffing mixture. When the mixture is ready, reduce the oven heat to 350. Finally, stuff the peppers! When they are stuffed to capacity, eat the rest of the mixture with a spoon and chop of cheese to put on top of the peppers. I used cabot cheddar. YUM.

Bake at 350 for another 15 minutes and enjoy!