Turkey and quinoa stuffed peppers

It's quinoa week up in herrrrrrr. I've been living in a little quinoa heaven the last month or so and should probably purge my queue of all the recipes I've got for you, before embarking on even more quinoa adventures I have lined up for meself and me main man. We have quinoa once a week (at least) these days...it's not too often that we run into something healthy that we both just lurve to chow on to the same level, so I've been really experimenting with new variations to keep the taste buds a jumpin' and the excitement levels a risin' round these parts. Did you see how I went all hip-hop at the beginning and all country at the end of this paragraph...Im so multi-cultural.

 

These were simple, easy, yummy, and healthy. Is there anything else you could ask for? No, it won't do your laundry for you. That would be nice though. This is a great weeknight meal that you can have the filling prepared for ahead of time so your dinner will take only the 20 minute bake time. I actually made this meal for walk/dinner night with Leslie a few weeks ago and hadn't gotten around to posting it. Every scrap of the leftover peppers was missing the next day. I think the mouse is back, I just don't know how he gets in the fridge??  :)

 

1 lb ground white meat turkey

1 cup rinsed quinoa (very important to rinse it so you don't get the bitter taste)

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup marinara sauce

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1/2 large white onion, diced

fresh mozzarella cheese for topping

1 T italian seasoning

4 green peppers, seeds and flesh inside removed

You could add mushrooms, spinach, whatever else you would put in with a pasta/meat sauce...

 

I used to be petrified to cook quinoa, and I'm a little perturbed at myself for waiting so long to try it, because it's really not a tough thing to master at all. You always use twice the amount of liquid as the amount of dry quinoa you have, and your quinoa will double in size after absorbing it. So here we used one cup, add 2 cups of broth (I think it adds more flavor than water, but you could use water if you like), and when it's doen you have 2 cups of cooked quinoa. Boom shaka-laka...there's the hip-hoppy-ness again. See how I can switch back and forth?

 

So put your chicken broth in a large skillet pan, get it to boil, and add your rinsed quinoa to it. Stir while it cooks until it's absorbed all the liquid. While you're doing this, you can be browning your turkey (or hamburger if you prefer) in another skillet if you're all multi-tasker extraordinaire like I am. Preheat the hot box (oven) to 400 degrees. Add the onion to the turkey and cook, add the italian seasoning and garlic for another couple minutes of saute time. Finally add the cooked quinoa and the marinara sauce to the mix and you've got yourself some filling, bud!

 

Spoon that lovely meat mixture into your peppers, and throw them in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take them out and sprinkle a gorgeous layer of fresh mozzarella on top before returning it to it's hot home for another 5 minutes. Take them out of the oven and serve yourself some of that goodness!

 

Don't hate me if you get 5 quinoa recipes this week...because that's what you're getting. Instead, take it as a hint, and get on the quinoa train because I'm pulling it into your station this week. Pack your bags, fellers! Country again...see how I did that? Happy Monday, all!