Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes

It took me forever to decide what to make for dinner tonight.  Meal planning when you're not hungry and you're too excited about the day after's meal is like torture.  All I could think about was my future Red Cabbage and Feta pie.  It's all I can think about.  But it is not suitable for an evening like tonight, which didn't feel glorious enough for such a feat..

Until I all of a sudden was inspired by tomatoes.... haters look away

I initially wanted to slow roast them and have them as a side dish to some broiled panga filets, but slow roasting is a low temp deal and I didn't have 3 hours ahead of me.

Then I did a quick scan of what was laying around, and I finally would be doing some broiled panga filets, but my tomatoes would be stuffed with shallots and quinoa.

Brilliant!
I wanted something multi textured.. some crunch, some juice, some soft.  This would be a perfect side dish.
Serves 4-5 as a side
Ingredients
5 tomatoes, tops cut off and emptied (reserve the guts)
1 scant cup quinoa, rinsed
3 small shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic
pinch thyme
salt/cracked pepper
2 Tbsp EVOO
Directions
1.  Heat the oil in a wok, add the shallots with a pinch of salt.  Cook until translucent.
2.  Add the quinoa and toast a few minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, blend the tomato guts with the garlic and set aside.
4.  Add in the blended tomato mixture with some thyme, salt, and fresh cracked pepper.  Simmer for approximately 5 minutes.
5.  Spoon the quinoa into the tomatoes, drizzle some more olive oil over the whole deal and bake for 35-45 minutes at 190°C (375°F)

I added broccoli about halfway through for the multicolored plate.
Serve with whatever you want.
Here's my plate

Oh that brown sauce? It's the bomb!
More about that later.

This meal was a perfect completion for my high active neuron week!