3.29.2011

The Dirty Dozen + a Recipe

This is just one of the 1,983 reasons why I love google. I literally look up everyythingg on google. When I first started shopping for more organic produce, I wasn't sure which fruits and veggies have the highest pesticide residues until I found the Dirty Dozen list from the Environmental Working Group. I now know what is worth the extra money to buy organic and what isn't.

I saved this list as a "note" on my iphone so when I'm at the grocery store I can check it easily to remember everything {until I get them memorized}. Now I will share the list with you :)


Here's what they call the Dirty Dozen...

12 Most Contaminated:

Fruit:
-Peaches
-Pears
-Apples
-Cherries
-Strawberries
-Raspberries
-Nectarines
-Grapes

Veggies:

-Celery
-Spinach
-Potatoes
-Bell peppers

12 Least Contaminated:
-Onions
-Avocado
-Sweet Corn (Frozen)
-Pineapples
-Mango
-Asparagus
-Sweet Peas (Frozen)
-Kiwi
-Bananas
-Cabbage
-Broccoli
-Papaya


I promised you all that I would share some vegetarian recipes I've been cooking. Here is one of my favorites. My husband and I love stuffed peppers (posted a recipe before) so I knew I had to find a vegetarian way to make them. I found this recipe through Vegetarian Times and then realized Krysta @ My Life In Food makes this recipe too!

It's super flavorful and is packed with protein from the quinoa and black beans. I love me some quinoa. If you haven't tried it before, you should! It's pretty simple to cook and goes with many different foods.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers:



Ingredients:

-1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
-2 tbs. olive oil
-2 ribs celery, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
-1 Tbs. ground cumin
-2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
-1 10 oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
-2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
-1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
-3/4 cup quinoa
-3 large carrots, grated (1 1/2 cups)
-1 1/2 cups grated reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese
-4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise

 
Directions:

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in spinach and drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid is absorbed.
2. Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots, and 2 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. Stir in 1 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.

4. Fill each bell pepper half with heaping 3/4-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish. Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour. Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper with 1 Tbs. remaining cheese. Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes.

ENJOY :)

This serves 8 and freezes well for future meals. If you want to speed up the cooking time~ I cook the peppers in boiling water first until soft (not limpy) so that I don't need to cook them in the oven as long. Mine took about 30 minutes. Also, I used a can of tomatoes with green chilies for an extra kick.

xo.katie

11 comments

  1. Those stuffed peppers looks so good! And thanks for the dirty dozen list, definitely very helpful. I have been trying to eat healthy too and its good to know what's actually going into your food and then your body.


    xoxo
    Petchie

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  2. YUMMMMM! I love quinoa too! I really wish I could get hubs on the one veggie meal a week train! Maybe if he realized how much protein was in beans/quinoa?! :)

    xo! Lauren @ tickled.

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  3. Those look so good! I have been following your blog for a while and I love it! I decided to read "Skinny Bitch" after your review, and you were right it's a very easy read! But, it does make me want to stop eating meat!

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  4. yum -- that recipe looks delicious!!

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  5. I have seen this recipe before, and it always looks delicious. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I may have to give it a try! :)

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  6. YUMMMM! This recipe sounds so good! Thanks for sharing! I think I'm going to give it a try :)

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  7. How funny that I made the exact same thing! I also just this weekend found a recipe for stuffed peppers that are more traditional in that they use brown rice and tomato sauce, but it calls for vegetarian beef crumbles. I have always been leary of "pretend meat" but she kept saying they were amazing and provided a specific brand to buy so I might have to take a chance on them. I'll let you know how they come out. I hate that bell peppers made the list for most contaminated! They are SO expensive to buy organic. Like $5 per pepper here!

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  8. I WANT those peppers!!!! Sounds delicious!!!! Thanks for sharing =) xoxo

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  9. Thanks for the list! That is so helpful, especially since all my fave fruits and veggies are on the least contaminated list! That recipe looks amazing....I'm going to try it! :)

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  10. i've always wanted to try stuffed peppers! these look awesome.
    haaa i rely on google WAY too much!!

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