clean comfort food

Remember when I said I was finally feeling better? Yeah, I take that back.

I woke up sick and miserable this morning. Gah! Back to square one.

Luckily, I am able to just lay on the couch all day and watch trash television. Which always helps! 

Anyway, enough about that - lets talk about yesterday.

Yesterday ended up being crap. Seriously, just a bad day. By the time Joel got home I was in a horrible mood. Poor guy. :) Luckily, he's the greatest guy in the whole wide world and made me feel better about everything I was struggling with. Thanks, honey. 

Once I was feeling better about life, it was time to make dinner. I was craving comfort food (who doesn't crave comfort food on a bad day?) but wanted to keep it clean. This recipe was perfect and it gave me the opportunity to experiment with a little daiya vegan cheese. The cheese added that comfort element while the veggies and quinoa kept it light and super healthy. Perfection. 

Vegan Southwest Quinoa Bake

::ingredients::

-1 cup quinoa (cooked)

-2 tbsp vegan butter (Earth Balance brand is the best!)

-1 small onion (diced)

-2 cloves garlic (minced)

-1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper (diced)

-1 or 2 jalapenos (diced)

-1/2 cup cilantro (diced)

-2 medium tomatoes (diced)

-2 small zucchini (diced)

-1 cup corn

-1 (15 oz) can black beans (drained and rinsed)

-1/2 tsp ground cumin

-1 tsp chili powder

-1 lemon (juiced)

-Sea salt (to taste)

-2 cups vegan mozzarella shreds

*if vegan cheese isn't your thing, feel free to use regular cheese.

::instructions::

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Cook quinoa according to package instructions

-Saute the garlic and onions in the vegan butter (just enough to soften them)

-Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium sized bowl, add the onions when they are done sauteing, stir until well combined

-Add the cooked quinoa to the bowl, stir again

-Add 1/2 cup of the vegan cheese to the bowl, stir again

-Transfer entire bowl into an 8x8 or 8x11 glass baking dish

-Sprinkle the remaining vegan cheese evenly over the top of the dish

-Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (or until cheese is golden and bubbly)

-Enjoy!