It’s almost lunch time as I type this post. I’m hungry. I want to eat everything.
When I was looking at what was going to arrive in this week’s box, the tomatoes (“Ta-may-toh”) kinda jumped out at me. I’ve made stuffed peppers before. Why not stuffed tomatoes?! I’ve heard of other people doing it. I guess we just use our tomatoes up too quickly to get around to doing this. Tomatoes are really good for us: We’re talking lycopene (a natural antioxidant) and it’s thought to benefit the heart*!
Do we really need an excuse to eat tomatoes though?!
I often have leftover quinoa in the freezer. It’s pronounced “keen-wah”. Did you know that? I’d been calling it the wrong thing for years. Now I know. It’s easy to make, higher in protein (about 14g/3.5oz.) than rice or pasta (I still totally eat rice and pasta), and is very versatile. It’s not just a protein, but a complete protein and is high in dietary fiber**. Yay Quinoa!
This could be a dinner, going alongside some Roast Beef (haha I typed “meef”: meat + beef = funny), Pan Seared Pork, Roasted Chicken… You could chop up any of said meats (cooked first) and add to the filling and have this as your main dish with a big salad.
You could eat it as a light lunch (or even breakfast), alongside a Fried Egg and a slice of hearty toast! You could make this vegetarian by omitting the bacon and adding chopped almonds for crunch. Get creative with your food!
Happy Eating!
Stuffed Tomatoes
Recipe Type: Side
Author: Rachel Oberg – De Ma Cuisine
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 28 mins
Total time: 43 mins
Serves: 2-6
Summer tomatoes are stuffed, roasted, and topped with crunchy bacon!
Ingredients
4-6 tomatoes, seeded and cored
1 T fresh oregano, diced (1 leaf reserved per tomato for topping)
1 ear of corn, off the cob
1 onion, diced
1 C squash, diced (I used a small zucchini, but any summer squash would work)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 C quinoa, cooked (I used leftovers)
1/2 t salt (I used Lemon, Thyme, and Bay Sea Salt, but regular salt would work just as well)
1/4 t pepper
1 T olive oil
1 T tomato paste
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 C parmesan cheese, grated (reserve 2 T for topping)
2 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled (for topping)
Instructions
Heat a medium sized pan. Add oil. Add onion, squash, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until veggies are tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, corn, tomato paste, vinegar, and quinoa, stir (make sure tomato paste is combined) and cook 2-3 minutes.
Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasoning if needed, then stir in parmesan cheese (reserving a bit for topping).
Stuff filling into hollowed out tomatoes. Bake at 350F (I used the toaster oven) about 20 minutes.
Top each tomato with crumbled bacon, 1 T parmesan and a fresh oregano leaf.
Notes
If you’re not using leftover quinoa: Bring 1 C water to a boil. Add 1/2 C quinoa. Cook about 15 minutes. Will yield about 2 C cooked. It freezes well.
Add yogurt, bananas, and peaches in a blender (I used my KitchenAid Hand Blender, but you could use a regular blender too). Add a little bit of milk and blend. Add more milk until it reaches desired thickness.
Serve it like a smoothie, or like soft serve frozen yogurt!
Notes
Makes about 2 C
For a dairy-free version you could sub soy or almond milk for the cow’s milk, and use soy or almond yogurt for the Greek.
You could sub other fruits for the bananas: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, melon (about 1-1 1/2 C – if using fresh, toss in a few ice cubes, or use frozen Greek yogurt – by that I mean freeze some or all of your container of Greek yogurt). Or you could do all peaches or nectarines.
