Turkey & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers are great because they can be a complete healthy meal in one neat little package. They are also endlessly customizable - I love the punch of loads of fresh basil here, but if you’re a cilantro person you could easily swap basil for cilantro, or add a chili pepper to the pesto for a spicy variation. Stuffed peppers reheat really well, making them an ideal packed lunch. The quinoa & turkey make them a filling protein packed meal no matter when you eat them.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1 small sweet potato

1 cup quinoa

2 cups basil

5 cloves garlic

1/4 c evoo + 1 tblsp

4 bell peppers

4 slices of cheese

salt & pepper

Wash and dice the sweet potato into roughly half inch cubes. Rinse the quinoa and combine with 2 cups fresh water, and diced sweet potato, in a saucepan. Add 1/2 tsp salt and bring to a boil; turn heat to low and cover, cooking for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off, remove lid, and fluff with a fork. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

While the quinoa cooks, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan. Once the pan is hot and the oil is shimmering, add the ground turkey. Season with salt & pepper to taste, and brown the turkey, breaking it up into little chunks as it cooks.

Combine the 2 cups of basil, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and remaining EVOO in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until you have a thick paste without any large garlic clumps.

Mix the sweet potato quinoa with the ground turkey, and then add all of the pesto. Stir it well so that the pesto evenly coats the entire mixture.

Yumm pesto. You may notice a theme here, I love pestos of all kinds.

Wash your peppers and cut a hole around the stem, gently pulling the stem and seeds out of the pepper. Tap the peppers upside down into your hands to remove any remaining seeds, and pull any particularly large white ribs out. Fill the peppers with as much stuffing as they can hold. If you don’t eat cheese - skip the next step, and instead clean the removed stem end of seeds and put it back in place like a little hat.

If you do eat cheese, leave the stem ends off and put a slice of cheese on top of each filled pepper.

Bake the peppers for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, until the cheese has formed a bronzed and bubbly cap, and the peppers are tender.

Enjoy :)

If making a vegan variation, use a package of extra firm tofu, pressed for at least 20 minutes, in place of the turkey. Once pressed - crumble, season, and saute, and proceed just like you would with turkey.