Introduction: Quinoa and Sausage Stuffed Roasted Peppers

About: Author at www.theviewfrom8600ft.com. I just stumbled upon instructables and I love it!

My sister made this recipe up because she loves substituting Quinoa for rice or other grains.  And for good reason, quinoa is full of protein, gluten free and tasty!  These Stuffed peppers are full of flavor and texture with wonderful, vibrant colors and packed with protein, what could be better?  Maybe they could be super easy to make?  Yes, they are.  So lets get started, I'm hungry...
Here is what you will need to make these glorious little peppers:
1/2 Pound Hot Italian Sausage

1 Cup prepared Quinoa
1 Large tomato, chopped
1/2 Can Fiesta Corn
2 Slices American Cheese, or any other type
Chopped Green Onion, for garnish
Salt and Pepper
To get started, first preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 

Cook the quinoa according to package directions, remembering to first rinse them really well to get wash away the bitterness.  Typically, to cook 1 cup quinoa, you will need 1 cup boiling water and 1/2 cup quinoa.  Just bring the water to a boil and add the quinoa, then reduce the heat and simmer the quinoa for 7 minutes, remove it from the heat and cover it for 15 minutes. 

Ok, on to the peppers:  Wash the peppers, cut them in half and scoop out the seeds.  I use multiple color peppers because I think they are pretty, but feel free to use any color you like. Rub the peppers with olive oil and dust with salt and pepper.  Stick them in the oven for 10 minutes while we cook the filling.

For the filling cook the sausage until it is no longer pink.

Add the chopped tomato with the seeds, the fiesta corn (which is just canned corn with peppers in it.) I don't know if it calls for a fiesta upon opening it, but pour yourself a margarita anyways, right? Unless it's lunchtime...

Cook that for a few minutes to soften the tomatoes and incorporate the flavors. 

When the quinoa is done, incorperate it into the sausage mixture and put a few slices on top of everything.  Stick a lid on your saute pan so your cheese melts. 

Your peppers should be partially roasted by now, so take them out and stuff the sausage-quinoa mixture into the peppers.

Roast them for another 5 minutes to melt the flavors together, garnish with a little  chopped green onion and that's it.  Enjoy your tasty peppers!