STUFFED BANANA PEPPERS WITH QUINOA AND CHICKEN SAUSAGE RECIPE - (4/5)

Stuffed Banana Peppers with Quinoa and Chicken Sausage Recipe - (4/5) image

Provided by jz8tkz

Number Of Ingredients 20

1/2 Pound chicken sausage
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 white onion, diced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 1/2 1/2% tablespoons olive oil
6 banana or yellow
Hungarian peppers
1 cup reduced-fat Mexican
blend cheese
14.5 ounce can reduced-
sodium chicken. broth
28 ounce can low-sodium
crushed tomatoes,
divided
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Steps:

Chop the tops off the banana peppers and clean them of seeds by making a long slit down the side of the pepper lengthwise. Once water is boiling, add banana peppers and cook for 5 minutes. While peppers cook, rinse quinoa thoroughly in fine colander or sieve. Heat olive oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium- high heat. Saute onion,sausage and orange pepper in hot oil until vegetables are tender and sausage is cooked, about ~10 minutes. Add garlic in last 3 minutes of cooking. Add half of crushed tomatoes, quinoa, chicken broth, basil, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes to the skillet. Bring to a boil; turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and mix in the cheese. Preheat broiler. Place 2-3 spoonfuls of remaining crushed tomatoes on bottom of a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Place cooked, sliced open banana peppers into the dish. Stuff each pepper with about 3/4 cup of the sausage-quinoa mixture or enough to fill it. Divide what is remaining in the crushed tomatoes can across the tops of the six peppers, then top with a sprinkle of panko breadcrumbs. Brown under broiler.