I know what you are thinking already…healthy? You betcha! My husband and I are trying to get back into better shape and start living an all around ‘healthier’ lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong, I still eat pizza and sweets but being a bit more cautious of what I put in my body. With that being said, I concocted a some-what healthy verison of my favorite dish – Stuffed Peppers. I know my husband was quite skeptical of this dish, seeing as the night before I dried out our ‘healthy’ chicken so much so that it teetered the line of edible and huge fail. We both ate it, but had nothing else to eat so it was out of pure desperation. Surprisingly enough this dish turned out fantastic! It was extremely easy and used all ingredients that I had in the house. The one thing it was missing though was a nice glass of vino.
Quinoa Turkey Stuffed Peppers
- 1/2 cup Quinoa
- 1 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
- 4-5 Bell Peppers (Red, Green and/or Yellow)
- 2 Carrots, diced
- 1 small Zucchini, diced
- 1 small Yellow Squash, diced
- 1/2 Onion, diced
- 1 small container (approximately 1 – 1 1/2 cups) Salsa
- 1 TBS Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper
- Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare the quinoa. Rinse it well then add to a small pot of 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 15 minutes. Once the liquid is absorbed, the quinoa is done.
In a medium sized pan, brown turkey meat. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper, reserve large mixing bowl.
In a saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, zucchini, squash and carrots, add some salt and pepper, and cook till veggies have slightly softened. Remove from heat and add to turkey.
Gently fold the quinoa in to the veggie/turkey mixture and add in the salsa. Once everything is combined, make sure the peppers are cleaned, cut the tops off (reserve on side), take out all the seeds and begin stuffing. Coat a baking dish with some olive oil and when all peppers are stuffed, place them standing in the dish. Put the tops back on and pop them in the oven for 30 minutes.
After the 30 min, take out the baking dish, remove the tops of the peppers and sprinkle as much or as little of the Monterey Jack cheese on them. Put them back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes. Once the cheese is nice and melty, remove from oven, put the pepper tops back on each and serve!
– Amanda
