Egg and Flax Quinoa with Stir Fried Veggies, Stuffed Peppers and Kale Chips

i swear it seems the nights when i’m either the least motivated, or i’m not expecting very much, end up with the most amazing meals.  this one just so happened to blow my mind just a little bit.  as i handed will his plate i let him know that i very much expected praise for this one (based on looks and execution alone; i hadn’t tasted anything yet.  have i mentioned that will’s first rule of cooking is to never serve anything to anybody that you haven’t made before? :)

i had some veggie stir fry leftover from lunch (made with some leftover rice from the night before....y’all know how i roll).  i had asked will to look through the kitchen while i showered to see what he thought needed to be used.  he found some quinoa.  good.  

i was thinking about peppers, ‘cause i do that these days.  we had done a taste test with our farm share bag, ‘cause some of them sure looked like they could set some things on fire, and discovered that what we thought might be habaneros were actually amazingly sweet mini bells.  i was glad for that ‘cause there are only so many hot peppers a gal (and a guy) can use.  the other two unidentified frying objects were indeed, um, hot.  we’re planning for a chili dinner party tomorrow night ;)

i preheated the oven to 250, and cut the sweet mini bells and the banana peppers in half, removing the seeds and saving them in containers on the side.  we’re on a planting kick, and after we had fresh watermelon seeds sprout a few days ago we just can’t resist.  growing shit is just really, really cool.

i made a “stuffing” from finely grated cheese, a little olive oil, and minced garlic and basil.  this was a rather lazy attempt, but i really couldn’t think of anything else to add to it.  it’s ok, because honestly the pepper is the best part of stuffed peppers (and really, you aren’t going to go wrong with cheese and garlic and basil ;)  i used my fingers to get a good portion into each pepper half and put them uncovered on an aluminum pie pan in the oven.  (my other baking pans are bigger than what i needed.)

next i put the veggie stir fry in a pan on low to heat up and measured out the quinoa, using up the rest of what we had.  it’s a 1:2 water ratio, so it didn’t matter that i didn’t have an even measurement.  i just doubled it for the water.  i put it on to boil, then covered it and let it simmer.  i think it’s a pretty safe bet that quinoa is done cooking when all the water is soaked up.  just keep stirring it every few minutes and keep an eye on the water, ‘cause it will quickly start to burn when it has dried up.

i had finally pulled our kale plants from the garden today, with reverence and respect.  they just weren’t doing well.  the colors looked sickly and withered (and EATEN!) and the aphid kingdom had come to conquer some time ago.  i brought all the plants inside though because i wanted to salvage anything from them that i could.  that was how i could really show my respect.  i got a handful of small leaves, and half leaves.  just enough to make some chips :)  the times i’ve done this before i think i used too much oil and they didn’t crisp up, so i was careful of that.  i realized that the bowl harboring the remnants of my pepper stuffing would be perfect.  i took the back (spine side) of the leaves and rubbed them in the cheesy, garlicky, basily goodness and lay them oil side up on a cookie sheet with a light sprinkling of cracked salt, putting them in the oven next to the peppers.

when the quinoa water had disappeared i put some in a small frying pan with a little butter and cracked a couple eggs in in (as per will’s nonspecific request :)  i then added some ground flaxseed and cracked salt and called for the boy!

a scoop of stir fry went over a scoop of quinoa, and with it two each of the two kinds of stuffed peppers and an elegant pile of kale chips.  it was beautiful, and the kale chips were crunchy enough that i had to take a video of them being consumed.  my eyes were wide and i was a tad speechless.....a lovely meal indeed ;)

egg and flax quinoa with stir fried veggies, stuffed peppers and kale chips

approximate price: $6