Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Growing up eating rice and beans almost every day, stuffed peppers became one of my favorite dishes, a break from the mundane. My dad started experimenting with peppers in his garden one year and with an excess of poblanos we decided to give them a try. Poblanos are an interesting pepper; they can be very mild in spice, tasting like a bell pepper with a little kick, but occasionally you get a really fiery one. I love not knowing what I am going to get when I bite into one. It’s like a little adventure.

Stuffing them with quinoa and chickpeas happened by chance, two superfoods I had leftover in the fridge. Quinoa has 8 grams of protein per cup, while chickpeas come in with 15 grams of protein and 12.5 milligrams of iron per cup. I added nutritional yeast to give the recipe a little flavor and nutritional blast—two tablespoons of nutritional yeast has 9 grams of protein and a full day’s supply of B-12.

I love to pair this meal Mango salsa to cool and sweeten the tongue.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 cup savory yeast
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 poblano peppers
• 1 large zucchini
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 ear corn
• 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
• cracked pepper + salt to taste
• a side of mango salsa

Directions:

Prepare poblano peppers. Cut off tops (save them!) and remove seeds, slice lengthwise, place on oiled cookie sheet, and bake at 400 for 10–15 minutes.

Shuck corn and boil for 5 minutes. Quarter zucchini, dice, and boil 3–5 minutes .

In 1 tablespoon oil stir fry onion and diced pepper tops until golden, add garlic. Once garlic is light brown add tomato.

Cool corn in a bowl of cold water, stand on end, and shave kernels.

Add quinoa into onion stir fry mixture.

In a separate pan, stir fry chickpeas, zucchini, and corn in the other tablespoon of oil.

Blend all together in casserole dish with yeast and water, with salt and cracked pepper to taste.

Use tongs to take peppers off pan, then stuff with filling. Enjoy with a side of mango salsa!