Turkey & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Yield: 6 servings

What You'll Need:
For the meat mixture:
1lb ground lean chicken or turkey breast
2 green onion, chopped
1/2 roma tomato, chopped
1/8 green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c. white onion, chopped
3/4 c. white mushrooms, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder (slightly heaping)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp Shaan Tikka Boti spice mix* (optional)
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 Tbs. tomato paste

For the quinoa mixture:
3/4 c. quinoa
1 1/2 c. water
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 c. black beans
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp fresh lime juice

3 whole red or green bell peppers

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 350º

1) For the chicken mixture:
In a shallow pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute garlic powder in the oil heat, until it begins to turn slightly golden in color. Add in thawed ground meat; stir in remaining spices (i.e. red pepper, salt, cumin seeds, Shaan and lemon pepper). Reduce heat to medium and cook until meat begins to brown (about 4-5 minutes). Stir in all chopped vegetables (tomato, bell pepper, green onion, mushrooms and onion). Cook meat for about 13 minutes, until almost cooked through; stir in tomato paste and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.


2) For the quinoa mixture:
In a shallow pan or frying pan, bring 1 1/2 c. water and 1/8 tsp salt to a boil. Add quinoa, cover pan and reduce heat so that the water simmers (med/med-low heat). Cook for about 20 minutes, or until water is evaporated and the quinoa is cooked through and sprouted. Once the quinoa is cooked, mix in black beans, olive oil and lemon juice.

3) Fold quinoa mixture into the ground meat mixture and set aside.

4) Remove stems and seeds from whole bell peppers and slice lengthwise. Wrap each bell pepper in a separate piece of foil and place in a baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.

  

Remove from oven and remove each bell pepper from foil wrapper.  Arrange bell pepper halves in the baking dish and fill each bell pepper half with 1/2 c. of the meat/quinoa mixture; pack it in with your hand, if needed.

 

Once bell peppers are stuffed, cover baking dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes, or until bell peppers are tender. Serve with tomato-less corn salsa (I got mine from Trader Joe's) and a light sprinkle of shredded low-fat mozzarella!