Just Another Meatless Monday #68 Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

This weekend found our pet numbers doubling, we are now a 2 cat household and a 2 dog household--{insert maniacal laugh here}-- The puppy was on purpose, we've been looking for a BIG dog, the moon and stars aligned apparently and Saturday found me driving to Mendeltna to pick up Midge. Blog readers meet Midge:

She's a Mendeltna Mastiff and a real beauty. She fits right around this old farm, playing, romping and even tattle tales on herself by barking when she is about to get into something she ought to leave alone. My husband was gone all week, when he came home last night Midge was his surprise, it was love at first sight for both of them. Midge is huge, but rather graceful for such a big puppy. To put her size into perspective she is 11 weeks old and her feet are the size of our full grown 100 pound lab, Jake.

This kitten, Bagheera,

however was completely unplanned and a total surprise to all of us, even to my oldest son Hero, who brought her home. He was at the lake and some kids were passing this kitten around, throwing her and generally being total A-holes. He took her away, almost got in a fight over her and rescued her. Hero thought I'd be mad because he came home with a kitty, but when I heard the story and saw how scared this kitty was I was only heartbroken. She was too scared to even look around, her eyes seemed barely open and she had that silly newborn baby kitty walk. We've been feeding her, loving her, now she follows us passionately, uses the litter box, mews when she is left out, has found her purr and sleeps in what we call cat caves. When we were eating dinner tonight I heard this strange sound and discovered her crashing around in the recycling bins. I tried to take a good picture but she was going nuts in there.

Ha! bet you thought with all the new animals around this place I wouldn't have cooked anything vegetarian, WRONG! I made some non tomato based vegetarian stuffed peppers for lunch today that were really good, although not particularly quick.


Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers--oven 400˚
3 large green peppers or four small
2 cups quinoa
4 cups water plus more for rinsing and for par cooking peppers
6 mushrooms, button or baby bella
1 garlic clove
2 TBSP olive oil
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles, plus more for sprinkling on top


bring the 4 cups of water to a boil in 2 quart dutch oven or sauce pan
heat a second large pan with water to par cook the peppers in
then wash quinoa, you must wash quinoa before cooking with to remove bitter saponins (present to keep birds from eating it) this is easy enough to do, place quinoa in a bowl cover it with water and gently rub the quinoa between your hands for 1-2 minutes then rinse with cool water and drain off as much water as possible, set aside
when your cooking water is boiling pour in the rinsed quinoa and return to a boil
reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally
meanwhile cut off the tops of the peppers and remove the seed membranes
when the pepper water is boiling slip the peppers in and gently simmer until the quinoa is done, turning and submerging as needed
preheat the oven to 400˚
peel, crush and chop the garlic, add it to the quinoa
clean the mushrooms and coarsely chop adding to the quinoa mix too
with about 5 minutes left to go on the quinoa add the spinach
when the quinoa is done add the feta and stir and taste for salt and pepper, add as needed
pull the peppers put of the water with tongs, be careful
drain them momentarily, set them upright in a baking dish
fill with quinoa and sprinkle on a dash of feta
bake uncovered for 20 minutes or so to allow the flavors to blend