Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

Every now and then I think about my pregan (pre-vegan) days, or more accurately in this case, my pre-vegetarian days and the foods I ate.

Not that I miss any of it, but that's been over 10 years now and a lot of foods I don't eat anymore are because I haven't thought to veganize them.

Skimming through Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Vegan With A Vengeance got me to thinking of Stuffed Bell Peppers when coming across this Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers recipe (note: the picture they put on that website appears to be for a completely different rice-based stuffed pepper dish. Weird, huh?!).

I don't use a lot of faux-meats anymore, but it would be easy to veganize stuffed peppers by using faux-ground meat in the usual recipe. This one doesn't go that route.

Instead, Moskowitz created a truly different dish that uses chopped mushrooms instead of meat. Quinoa is the grain that substitutes for oatmeal or breadcrumbs, and black beans fills out the insides about as well could be done.

Vegans often get asked the where-do-you-get-your-protein-from question. Quinoa is a grain very high in protein, as are the black beans so there's no faux meat needed here.

I chopped the 'shrooms in a food processor to make it quick and easy. 5 minutes of sauteeing with onions and garlic released any moisture they had.

As you can see in the recipe, just add in some spices, the quinoa, some tomato sauce and black beans and you're ready to stuff.

Blanched red bell peppers are a nice mild touch instead of the spicier green ones. I've done this recipe with both, and the green ones are cheaper and just as fine. Topped off with tomato sauce and they're ready for baking.

I've made this recipe several times now. You have to be a mushroom fan to love it, but I think it's my favorite recipe I've tried so far from this book.

BLACK BEAN, MUSHROOM, AND QUINOA-STUFFED PEPPERS RATING - 9

...and now a note for you healthy recipe creators!!!

One of my favorite blogs is Foods that Fit from a fellow marathon runner and almost-vegan named Abbie in Maryland (soon to be Utah). You can see it in my blog roll on the right.

Abbie is putting together a healthy, almost-vegan e-cookbook and will give a copy free to anyone who gives her five healthy recipes by March 15, 2009 and posts a link to it from their blog. I sent my five (Homemade Soy Milk, Mocha Ice Cream, Easy Spinach Enchiladas, Cajun Hummus and Okara/Bean Burgers) and here's the link with the details!