Orange bell peppers cut into jack-o-lanterns, stuffed with quinoa, kale, nutritional yeast, and just a smidge of tomato sauce. Great use for leftover spaghetti sauce (or spaghetti for that matter). Peppers and kale from the Farmer’s Market. Pictured on a bed of sauteed zucchini, japanese eggplant, and peppers also from the Farmer’s Market.
Amounts will vary based on the number and size of the peppers you’re using. One medium pepper will hold about 1/2 cup quinoa (cooked) mixed with 1/4 cup greens and 3 or 4 tbsp tomato sauce. The amount of nutritional yeast is up to your taste, I used about 2 or 3 Tbsp per pepper.
Cook the quinoa (or wild or brown rice if you so choose) in vegetable broth* according to the package directions (substituting the broth for the water in the package directions). If you have leftover quinoa or rice, this is a perfect use for it. Chop up the kale and steam it until soft but not mushy (collards, spinach, mustard, or turnip greens, or lamb’s quarter will also work wonderfully). Mix the quinoa and kale with just enough tomato sauce and nutritional yeast to moisten the mixture. Fill the peppers and bake at 350 until the peppers just start to soften. Enjoy a delicious, fun, and very healthy Halloween dinner! As always, let me know if you try it!
There are several substitutions for nutritional yeast if you don’t have any on hand (though you should totally try it!!):
-crushed cashews (or other nuts)
-sunflower seeds
-miso
-cooked lentils (soooooo good)
-finely chopped olives
-truffle oil
* Making your own vegetable broth is easy, free, and a huge money saver. Check it out.