This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe Mr. E found in the Milwaukee Sunday paper.  I’d like to say ‘Thank You’ to Mr. E for always being on the hunt for new recipes for us to try!  I’d also like to extend a special ‘Thank You’ to Papa F (Mr. E’s dad) for only putting up a minor fight when Mr. E cut the recipe out of a section of the paper Papa F had yet to read.  I believe it went something like this, Papa F “Aaaggghhhhhh – WHAT are you doing???” Mr. E “Cutting out a recipe.”  Papa F “Aaggggaahhhhh – I haven’t seen that section yet….what’s on the back???”   Mr. E “It’s the food section, you weren’t going to read it any way.” Papa F “Humph.” LOL LOL. 🙂

This recipe was so good. I could totally see this becoming part of the regular rotation.  While this does call for ground turkey, and we did use it, we both agreed that it would have been equally as good without.  The ground turkey added texture which I think could easily be replicated with maybe chopped mushrooms or more chopped veggies.

For convenience I made the quinoa the night before.  I followed the directions on the back of the box using chicken broth instead of water.  I also halved the recipe since there is only Mr. E and I.  Quinoa is super easy; just remember it’s a 2:1 ratio. For every 1 part dry quinoa add 2 parts liquid.

This recipe didn’t originally have a sauce, but when I sautéed the onion, reserved bell pepper pieces from the cut off tops, turkey, garlic and seasoning I noticed there was a ton of filling! And, that was before adding the quinoa and tomatoes! I decided there was plenty to divide and turn half into a sauce! So, I added half of the tomatoes and approximately half of the paste to the skillet and mixed all together.  I then removed half of that mixture and set aside.  To the remaining mixture I added the quinoa.  Look how yummy!

I then stuffed all of the quinoa mixture into the peppers and set in the oven.  In the same skillet (it was my turn to do the dishes, so there was no way I was dirtying another one!) I added back the turkey mixture, the rest of the tomatoes, paste, some water and seasonings and just let it simmer while the peppers cooked.

Though it would have been good without, we were both really glad to have the sauce!

Quinoa and ground turkey stuffed peppers

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup chicken stock

3 bell peppers- we did 2 green and 1 red

2 garlic cloves or 1large clove

1/4 sweet onion, chopped

¾ pound ground turkey

1 can diced tomatoes drained, reserve liquid

3 oz. tomato paste

1 teaspoon basil (½ for the stuffing and ½ for the sauce)

1 teaspoon thyme (½ for the stuffing and ½ for the sauce)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Olive oil

 

Preheat oven to 375°.  Grease a baking dish with oil.  I used an 8×8 since I was making a small batch. Also, you’ll want to be able to stand the peppers up in the dish, if you lay them on their side the filling starts to fall out.

 

Cook quinoa according to package directions, but using chicken stock instead of water.  Cut the tops off the bell peppers and remove the stem and seeds. Chop any extra pepper from the tops and set aside.

 

Over medium high heat, use a skillet with some olive oil in it to sauté the onions and chopped peppers.  About 5 minutes or so, just until the onions start to brown.  Add garlic, basil and thyme, just cooking until fragrant about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Add turkey, salt and pepper and cook until meat is browned.  Add half of the tomatoes and half of the tomato paste and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed, mixing well. 

 

Remove half of this mixture and set aside to use in the sauce. 

 

Add cooked quinoa to the remaining turkey mixture in the skillet and stir thoroughly.  I found this mixture to be a bit dry so I added a little of the reserved liquid from the canned tomatoes. Fill each pepper with the mixture, place in baking dish, cover with foil and bake about 30 minutes until the peppers are tender and can be pierced with a fork.

 

While the peppers are baking, add the reserved turkey mixture to a skillet over medium low heat and mix in the remaining tomatoes, paste, remaining basil and thyme, salt and pepper to taste, a few teaspoons of the reserved liquid from the canned tomatoes and about ¼ cup of water or so.  Let the sauce simmer, adjusting spices to suit taste.

 Enjoy!