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