This is a guest post from Megan Cannon, a guest author who shares her experience prepping a variety of allergy-free friendly foods.
Throughout the course of the holiday season – which, somehow, only now feels like it’s winding down completely – my family participates in (or sometimes hosts) several large group dinners. These dinners, attended by family and friends from all over, are always fun, but they can be incredibly stressful to put together. While feeding a crowd of people can be a daunting task in itself, there is the additional challenge that our meetings include people with a wide range of dietary restrictions: pescetarian/vegetarian, nut-free, lactose intolerant…you name it, we have it. So this year, I came up with a dish that could be easily changed to accommodate all those special diets, but that is pretty simple to put together. Best of all, it’s one of my favorite (although often underrated) comfort foods: stuffed peppers.
These stuffed peppers are extraordinarily customizable, which makes them a definite crowd-pleaser…whether the crowd is a party or a simple weeknight meal with the family. I think they would even transition well as the weather gets warmer, since they are not as dense as traditional stuffed peppers; instead of the typical rice and beef filling, these are packed with quinoa, making them a much lighter dish (but don’t worry – they are still protein-packed and entrée-friendly).
Ingredients
- 6-8 bell peppers (any color), seeded
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ½- 1 cup frozen chopped broccoli
- ~1 cup shrimp (more if you like; omit for vegetarian version)
- ¼-1 cup sauce or marinade, plus more for drizzling (Use whatever you like here. Whatever your favorite sauce is, whether homemade or a trusted store-bought brand, it will probably work. I like to use a tangy, slightly spicy sauce in this mixture; recipe follows.)
- ¼-1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, optional
- Spicy Sweet Sauce:
- ½ cup peach preserves
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons pickle juice (optional, but strongly recommended)
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Add ingredients together for the Spicy Sweet Sauce in small bowl; whisk until well mixed. As with most sauces, this tastes better after letting the flavors develop together for a little while, so try to let it rest in the refrigerator for about twenty minutes.
- Prepare a large baking dish by drizzling some of the sauce/marinade into the bottom; set peppers up in dish.
- Cook quinoa in vegetable broth according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, lightly sauté shrimp and broccoli in about half of the sauce or marinade.
- Add remaining sauce to quinoa; mix well. Incorporate shrimp and broccoli into quinoa, then scoop mixture into prepped peppers.
- Sprinkle the tops of peppers with cheese, if desired. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until peppers are slightly blistered.
Notes
Change this recipe as much as you like; it’s really more of a guide, designed to be forgiving for widely varying diets. Add different (or extra) vegetables, swap out the shrimp, change the sauces, do whatever you think is best; just let it come together easily, and enjoy its simplicity, no matter how hectic the rest of the day may be.
Note: change this recipe as much as you like; it’s really more of a guide, designed to be forgiving for widely varying diets. Add different (or extra) vegetables, swap out the shrimp, change the sauces, do whatever you think is best; just let it come together easily, and enjoy its simplicity, no matter how hectic the rest of the day may be.