Loaded, Stuffed Bell Peppers

I don’t have a standard recipe for this dish, so bear with me and I’ll attempt to put something together. I’m the sort of cook that just throws things together and somehow makes it come out pretty good.

I start off by shredding a single chicken breast and sautéing it in a pan of olive oil.

I added matchstick carrots, and my spices. Turmeric, black pepper, sage, and crushed red pepper flakes.

The large bell peppers are halved, de-seeded, and rinsed. They go into a shallow pan that’s been greased with olive oil.

Three color quinoa is used as the stuffing. 1/2 cup of rinsed quinoa is cooked in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes and fluffed. I fill the peppers about half full.

The next ingredient is the basil Alfredo sauce.

I add a couple heaping tablespoons to each pepper half. A small dollop of chèvre (goat cheese) provides a creamy zip on each pepper.

The next layer is the chicken / carrot mix.

I like to add a layer of crushed walnuts to provide a little crunch to the dish.

I added matchstick carrots and a thick layer of cheddar cheese as the final topping.

I bake the dish for 20 minutes at 400*F until the cheese actually starts to form a brown crust.

I don’t precook the bell peppers prior to stuffing them. You can roast them crisp if you like, but I like my peppers to have just a bit of chewiness to the bite. If I cooked this dish outdoors… I would love to grill the peppers stuffed and baked them, so they would have a smokey char to them. I think the flavor would be incredible.