Sundried tomato and Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes
(Serves 4) ~ Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free

You may find this hard to believe, but in all my years of cooking it never occurred to me before to stuff tomatoes, lol. I’m sure I’ve had to at least see them before at some point in my life, right? Not until a few months ago when I was perusing through blog posts and saw that one of my fellow bloggers stuffed tomatoes. This was literally the moment when the light bulb went off in my head. Why? My husband does not like stuffed peppers, maybe it’s the way the flavor of the cooked peppers permeate throughout the filling. He loves raw peppers just not cooked/baked. I’ve made them in the past for myself and really do like them, guess I never just thought to stuff tomatoes. Stuffed squash is pretty good too. This recipe is very flavorful, filling and heart healthy. The sundried tomatoes, sunflower seeds and quinoa offer a great texture.

Ingredients:
4 Large Tomatoes
3 White Button Mushrooms, wiped clean/chopped
3 large Cauliflower Florets (about 1 cup), raw
7 Basil leaves, chiffonade
1 handful fresh Parsley (about 1/3 Cup), chopped
7 Pieces Sundried Tomatoes, chopped
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Cup Cooked Quinoa
½ Cup Sunflower Seeds (I soaked the seeds for about 30 minutes)
1 Garlic clove, minced
½ Tsp Salt
¼ Tsp fresh Ground Pepper
¼ Tsp Chili Powder

Directions:
-Preheat oven 375 degrees F.
-In a large bowl combine all ingredients. [except for the large tomatoes of course J ]

-Carefully cut around the top of each tomato to core. Scoop the inside of your tomatoes with a spoon to core. (I used my ice cream scoop to core out the insides. Only because my scoop comes to a slight point. I don’t have the traditional disher style scoop with the mechanical lever which I suppose could be bulky and get in the way.)

-Fill each tomato with stuffing mix – I used my measuring cup so I can give you all a pretty accurate measurement. I was able to fill each tomato with about 2/3 Cup of the mixture. (I used my 1/3 measuring cup – make sure to pack it down with each scoop).

-Place tomatoes on baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle again with a dash of salt/pepper and chili powder.
-Bake for 25 minutes @ 375. Enjoy!

Tip: In this recipe I used jarred sundried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil. Instead of using EVOO from my pantry – I used 3 Tbsp of the olive oil that the sundried tomatoes were packed in! Extra flavorful. J -I also used curly parsley in this recipe you flat leaf should work well too.