How to Make Quinoa and Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Hi everyone!

In case you haven’t noticed, I there is something new about the blog. I am officially self hosted and the proud owner of this domain! I am also on WordPress now, and I think everything looks a lot better. I still have some housekeeping to do, but this is what I got so far.I hope to have a blogroll and page for recipes up soon.

So anyway, we have a homestyle favorite recipe today. Stuffed Peppers! But… with Quinoa? Wha?

Trust me on this one. The quinoa make up for the lack of rice 10 times over and the filling has a nice kick from the dijon and lemon, but a certain sweetness from the honey.

So off the record, I’m so glad this recipe make four peppers. If I had only made two like I thought originally, I wouldn’t had two left int he fridge right now.

Wait.

I do have two leftovers! Excuse me, I have some business I need to eat. I mean do. (No I don’t)

Quinoa and Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

4 bell peppers (If you want rainbow colored bell peppers, go for it!)

1/4 cup quinoa

1 onion, chopped

3/4 lb. extra lean ground turkey (feel free to use lean or whatever you like)

1/2T honey

1t lemon juice

1.5T dijon mustard

1 cup canned tomato sauce/puree

1 slice of cheese (Use whatever you want/have on hand. I used Sargento reduced fat swiss.)

Preheat oven to 450 degress F.

Put the quinoa in a pot with two cups of water, cover, and bring to a boil.

Your probably thinking,; two cups! What? Quinoa can be expensive, and I like it to go a long way. Believe me, the more water it soaks up, the fluffier it will be and the more of it there will be. And the quinoa will soak up the water.

Keep checking it every so often to see when all the water get soaked up. If you happen to catch it after it looks kinda scorched, no worries. (I did that at least twice.) Just add some more water and wait until that get soaked up. 🙂

Now, lop of the top of one of the bell peppers, take out the mebranes and seeds, and pluck out the stem of the top like so. (See the pic right there above.) Now just repeat with the rest of the peppers.

Take the sans stem pepper tops, and chop them up. Then add them, along with the chopped onion, into a large (I mean large) skillet sprayed with nonstick spray. Bring it to medium-high heat.

Season the ground turkey with salt and pepper. After you get some color on your veggies, add the seasoned ground tukey, and break it up with your spoon/spatula and stir it around.

Once there is no more pink on the turkey, add the tomato sauce/puree, honey, lemon, dijon, and salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, place the toppless peppers cut side down in a baking dish and microwave for three minutes. This helps to make sure the peppers don’t get all soggy.

By the way, I think it would be smart to do this while the turkey+veggie mixer is cooking, instead of waiting until the oven is preheated and everything else is done but this. Unlike someone who forgot to do this until the last minute. No names mentioned. *Cough*

Now turn your peppers rightside up, distribute your filling evenly between the peppers.

Now take your cheese slice, divide it into four pieces, and break up that 1/4 piece into smaller shreds (like above,) and place them on top of a stuffed pepper. Repeat with the rest of the cheese and peppers.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the peppers are slightly crispy, the cheese is melted, and the filling is heated throughout.

Don’t burn your tongue if you can’t wait for these to cool down. I speak from experience.

I just wanted to give a shout out to The Great Fundraising Act, for the auction was today! I am just reading now that some auction items can be sent in late, so I would be more than thrilled to bake something and donate it to a late bake sale auction. Please leave a comment to tell me what I should bake.

P.S. I think there may be a banana bread recipe in your future.

Enjoy!

-Kelly M.