Italian Stuffed Tomatoes/Ultimate Bruschetta!

Ingredients: 

6 large tomatoes

1 can white beans (I use cannelloni)

1 package spinach 

1/2 of an 8 oz jar of pesto

1 can artichoke hearts

Optional: 

shredded mozzarella cheese 

french bread

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Sauté the spinach in water in a large pan, adding one handful at a time.  

2. Slice of tops of tomatoes and scoop out the insides (I save the guts for homemade tomato soup). 

3. Add rinsed beans, artichoke hearts, pesto, and sautéed spinach in a large bowl. Mix well. 

4. Scoop the bean filling into the tomatoes and place them on a tin-foiled cookie sheet. 

5. Bake for 30 minutes (If desired, add shredded cheese for the last 2 minutes and broil). 

Enjoy alone or cut in pieces to serve on toasted french bread for ultimate bruschetta. Delizioso! 

Quinoa-stuffed Bell Peppers or Tomatoes

Here's another idea for your plant-based eating: stuffed veggies!  They are easy and fun to make.  You can broil them, bake them, or cook in the crockpot.  I've tried a few recipes, and this is the general idea (for a crockpot.  See the link below for oven instructions)

Ingredients: 

4 red bell peppers/tomatoes

2 cups cooked quinoa or brown rice (go for the quinoa!)

Your choice of mix-ins, like

tomatoes, beans, salsa, cumin, oregano

or 

sautéed spinach, garlic, olive oil, fresh parsley

Instructions: 

1. Slice off the top and hollow out the pepper/tomato: seeds, guts, etc.  (I save the tomato guts and make tomato soup the next night.  Yum!) Place in crockpot.  

2. Cook 2 cups of quinoa according to the directions.  Quinoa cooked in vegetable broth tastes way better :-)

3. Once it's cooked, add your mix-ins and stir together.   

For a southwestern mix, you can add a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, 14 oz can of kidney beans, a cup of salsa, 1/2 tsp. cumin, 1/4 tsp. oregano, a bit of olive oil, a little salt

or 

spinach and garlic sautéed with a little olive oil   

4. Add the fillings to the peppers/tomatoes and cook in the crockpot on low for 3-4 hours.  

Drizzle some cold-pressed olive oil (if you didn't already) and voila! 

Here's the instructions for the baked version 

http://diethood.com/quinoa-spinach-stuffed-tomatoes-giveaway/