Quinoa and Turkey Stuffed Peppers

It is prime time to buy peppers. When we have a lot of peppers to sell, we lower our prices, making customers happy! I have been waiting to make stuffed peppers and I finally got the time to do it! My dad can't eat anything with peppers and onions, so it can be challenging to cook for him. He wasn't at dinner, so I decided it was a great time to make stuffed peppers that included onions. I made this meal for my boyfriend and I. I had to split the dish up because he wanted rice and cheddar cheese, while I wanted quinoa and mozzarella cheese. They both turned out delicious!

Quinoa and Turkey Stuffed Peppers 

Servings: 6 peppers (I made 4 and froze the leftover mixture)

Ingredients:

• 6 bell peppers, I used green and red
• 1/2 frying pepper, chopped
• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 2 cup quinoa
• 1/2 tsp fennel
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup or more cheese, split up for each pepper (I used part skim mozzarella, my boyfriend used cheddar)

Directions:

1. Slice the top of the peppers, remove seeds.
   
   
   
   
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Boil peppers in water for 3-5 minutes each. The peppers will get soft to make the baking process shorter. Place the peppers in a casserole dish. 
4. In a sauté pan, brown ground turkey. Once meat is cooked, add fennel, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. 
5. Add the onion, tomatoes, and frying pepper let cook for 3-5 minutes (until the vegetables cook down a little). 
   
   
   
   
6. Add the tomato sauce and quinoa, let it cook for a few more minutes until heated. 
   
   
   
   
7. Time to stuff the peppers! Add any cheese to the bottom of the pepper, followed by the meat mixture. You can add layers of cheese, if you want. Do not put cheese on the top until later (I learned this the hard way!).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (Wait to add most of the cheese till later or you will have burnt cheese!)
   
   (The two on the left are my boyfriend's with rice and cheddar cheese.)
8. Bake peppers for 20 minutes, add a top layer of cheese, then bake for 10 more minutes until cheese melts. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Enjoy!! This is a great meal to make for lunch the next day!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (My boyfriend photobombing my picture! This is one of my favorite photos!)