Pepperoni Pizza Quinoa Bake
Description
Another one-pot super flexible handy dish with the ability to use up all kinds of bits in your fridge! Borrowed from The Real Food Dieticians, below is a very loose outline of their great idea – enjoy!
Ingredients
1 c. quinoa, cooked as instructed in broth and set aside – it’s actually better if it’s not super dry
1 c. onion, diced AND 1 t. garlic salt
2 to 4 c. diced vegetables – I used mushrooms, zucchini and bell peppers
1 to 2 c. tomato sauce – save the can or jar for rinsing
1 c. shredded cheese AND a few slices or more shredded cheese for topping – mozzarella or Parmesan but I had Havarti and it was really lovely
~200 g. pepperoni slices – I like it thin, I also prefer to bake it for about 15 minutes first
fresh basil, red pepper flakes, more cheese for baking
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9 x 13 casserole – or smaller, this will depend on the amount of vegetables that you’re adding.
In a large skillet, heat up a bit of oil and sauté the onion and garlic salt for a few minutes until softened – I had mushrooms so I added these in with the onion. Add in the vegetables next and cook for another couple of minutes until just tender. Use a large bowl to mix together the waiting quinoa, vegetables, tomato sauce, shredded cheese and at least half of the pepperoni. Scrape this all into your prepared casserole and level off the top. If you’re worried about the mix being too dry, rinse out your tomato sauce vessel and drizzle on a bit more liquid.
Top with more shredded cheese or cheese slices and the remaining pepperoni and bake for about 30 minutes until hot and bubbling throughout. Serve in large bowls and garnish as you wish! – the leftovers also froze really well for future lunches.
