Confession.

I am utterly obsessed with quinoa.  Seriously this stuff can be thrown into almost any dish, spiced up with so many flavors and it is ridiculously healthy for you!  As I said before in my last post, I’m still swooning over our gorgeous honeymoon in Mexico where we had some of the most amazing food (probably why I need to get my booty back in the gym) so I’ve been really inspired to make some new recipes.

Now I’ve made a lot of stuffed pepper recipes in my lifetime which I LOVE because peppers baked in the oven have so much flavor and the entire meal is hearty, filling and really healthy, so I figured why not try using mini sweet peppers?  I like these because they don’t take as long to cook and you get more crunch with each bite.  They also make great appetizers when you have people over or are throwing a party!  I mean they’re so cute and colorful, what’s not to love??

Start off by cutting about a third of each pepper, choosing the more bumpy side to cut off so the flat side lays nicely when baking.  Oh and don’t worry about wasting all those colorful tops you have set aside, chop those up and throw them in your quinoa mixture!  This gives you even more crunch and added flavor.  I also love that the quinoa cooks right in the pan which saves you time from boiling it beforehand, but also gives it so much extra flavor as the quinoa absorbs all those yummy ingredients.  Then once the quinoa is cooked, stuff your peppers as much as you can, throw them in the oven for  about 13 minutes, sprinkle them with a little cheese and let them bake for a couple more minutes, until the cheese has melted.

…..voila!

And for all you Weight Watchers readers, these peppers are only 1 point per stuffed pepper!

Oh and if you’re not a fan of peppers?  Well this quinoa mixture tastes AMAZING all on its own and makes for a delicious side dish!  Seriously….I may or may not have kept eating it with a spoon right out of the pan.  Hope you all love this recipe as much as we did!