Quinoa and Chickpea Stuffed Peppers

I was looking for a vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe, and found a recipe that sounded good (so I adapted it a bit...)

Ingredients:

Stuffed Peppers:

• ½ cup uncooked quinoa (you want about 1 to 1.5 cups of cooked quinoa)
  
• 1 cup of onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon each or so of Kosher salt, ground black pepper, garlic, and oregano
• 4 large bell peppers
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I used a whole can)
• 2 cups chopped kale (maybe 2 or 3 large leaves) leaves, stems removed
• 2/3 to 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
• Handful of chopped fresh mint (optional, I used mint, basil, and parsley)
• Shake of red pepper flakes
  
• 2/3 cup grated mozzarella cheese
  
  

Yogurt Sauce:

• ⅓ cup Greek yogurt
• Drizzle of water
• Finely chopped mint, basil, or oregano (or dry version)
• Heavy sprinkle of garlic powder
• Squeeze of lemon
• Kosher salt to taste
  

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.
2. Slice peppers in half through stem, removing seeds and ribbing.
   
3. Spritz lightly with cooking spray, then sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
4. Place cut side up and roast them for 20 minutes or until they become soft. (You might want to flip them over for the last 5 minutes to drain them.)
5. Cook quinoa with onion pieces and a few shakes of salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano.
   (I used 1.5 cups of water and 1 cup of quinoa in the Instant Pot for 1 minute on High, and let natural release for 10 minutes. I saved half of quinoa for later.) 
6. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
7. Add in a couple of shakes of salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano.
8. Mix in the kale and chickpeas, and fresh mint/herbs.
9. Stir in the feta cheese and mozzarella cheese.
10. Mix in about 1 to 1.5 cups of cooked quinoa.
11. Fill the pepper halves with the quinoa mix, mounding as needed to use up all the mix.
    
12. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes or so to warm up a bit more.
    
13. Mix together the yogurt sauce in a small ball to serve on the side.
    

 

Carole's Notes:

We liked this! It had a nice lemon/feta/herb flavor. We liked the yogurt sauce with it.

The recipe is lightly adapted from https://www.loveandlemons.com/vegetarian-stuffed-peppers/