Healthy Quinoa and Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

likethebird's Note:

A healthy twist on stuffed peppers! I served these with mashed cauliflower - yum!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6

Yield: 6.0 stuffed ...

• 1 cup quinoa (or 1/2 cup quinoa and 1/2 cup bulgar wheat)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 6 bell peppers (I use three green, three red)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/2 vidalia onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese (I used parmesan and asiago blend)
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine quinoa and chicken stock in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 15-17 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed.
3. Meanwhile, cut the tops off of the bell peppers, remove the seeds and set aside in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Chop the tops of the peppers (will add to the meat mixture later).
4. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large sauce pan and saute the garlic.
5. Add chopped onions and peppers. Saute 2-3 minutes.
6. Add the ground turkey, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to the pan. Cook until the meat is browned.
7. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir to combine. Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed (5 minutes).
8. Add the cooked quinoa to the meat mixture. Stir thoroughly.
9. Fill each pepper with the mixture. Cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
10. After 25 minutes, top each pepper with italian cheese. Cook five more minutes (cheese will melt and begin to brown).
11. Serve immediately :) Enjoy!

Reviews

[mlshavlin]

Delicious and simple! Used Italian turkey sausage to add a little heat. Will definitely be making this again and again.

[Nancy's Pantry]

Very tasty stuffed peppers. I have just recently discovered quinoa and we love it. I did change the meat as I just can't get used to ground turkey. I lessened the amount of worchestershire sauce as a result, but otherwise made as directed. The pepper stuffing was nice and moist. I did par-boil the peppers for a few minutes just enough to make them more tender. Made for Spring PAC, April, 2013.

[StacyMD187373]

Pretty tasty dinner. Made it OAMC--filled 2 peppers and froze the leftover filling to put in a fresh pepper after defrosting. Turned out pretty well, although I do think I prefer the larger grain rice to break up the tomato taste. But turned out well out of the freezer which was nice. 9/3/12: Changed to 5 stars since my now picky toddler actually ate this (I had heated it up for my lunch!). Hoping he'll do so again, but you never know!