Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers - Tasty Recipe

(We were so excited to eat the stuffed peppers, I forgot to take a picture. I did grab the camera for the leftovers-turned-into-soup.)

Last fall I made up this recipe. As soon as we tasted it and discovered how wonderful it was, I shared it on Sally Cronin's blog at smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com. I decided I should also share it here. We love both forms of this recipe - stuffed peppers and leftovers turned into soup. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. I'm off to buy some green peppers, quinoa, and ground turkey.

Bon Appetit!

Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients:

6-8 green peppers, cored and seeded
1 lb. ground turkey
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lg. onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
2 c. shredded green cabbage
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. cooked quinoa
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 8-oz. box Neufchatel cheese (or regular cream cheese)
1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3 T. olive oil
1 T. dried sage
2 T. Mrs. Dash
1 tsp. nutmeg
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Crushed red peppers (to taste)
Salsa (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Prepare green peppers by washing them, cutting off the top, and removing seeds. Arrange on baking sheet.
3. Add olive oil to a large pot. Add garlic, onions, and carrots. Stir and cook until garlic is browned. Add turkey meat and cook until done, crumbling with a wooden spoon.
4. Add cabbage, tomatoes, broth, and seasonings. Cook until well blended.
5. Add Neufchatel cheese. Stir until melted and blended. Add quinoa and stir.
6. Remove from heat. Stuff each pepper to the top.
7. Cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes or until pepper skins are easily pierced with a fork.
8. Serve while hot. Top with salsa.

Leftover stuffing can easily be turned into a delicious soup by adding additional chicken broth to thin to desired consistency. Top with grated cheese and sliced red onions. Serve hot.

About Angie
My name is Angie Quantrell. I live in the Yakima Valley of Washington state – a veritable fruit and vegetable bowl for the nation. I happily urge my garden to produce and then figure out ways to use what is successful and has not been eaten by the slugs. For instance, the sage I use is from my garden. I prefer to use it dried, so I regularly dig into the jars of dried leaves, grab a handful, roll them until they crumble, and add the fragrant herb to whichever dish I am preparing. Sage and nutmeg go very well together in fall dishes!

I am a writer, a blogger, a teacher, a Nana of three (soon to be four) precious grandbabies, and a wife to Kevin. I love nature, being outdoors, gardening, writing, photography, rubber stamping, and my crazy kitties, who are 11 months old and have yet to learn manners. Actually, I love creating of any kind. My husband is extremely happy that I have retired from teaching, as I have time to create great tasting meals.

I love to experiment and play in the kitchen. I usually make interesting (both good interesting and bad interesting) meals by adding bits of this and that to a collection of leftovers. Kevin, my husband of 29 years, fell in love with this recipe and could not stop expressing his gustatory delight as he ate huge amounts of both stuffed peppers and leftover soup.


You can find me at:

Twitter: @AngieQuantrell
Facebook: Angie Quantrell
LinkedIn: Angie Quantrell
Blogs: www.angiequantrell.blogspot.com; www.bookblabbyabooklover.blogspot.com; www.angiequantrell.wordpress.com
Google+: Angie Quantrell
Pinterest: Angie Quantrell

Sweet Potato Turkey Shepherds Pie - Recipe

Shepherds pie was sounding good, so I checked a few online recipes. After finding none that were exactly what I wanted, I made up my own. Which is my usual method of attacking a meal, but I thought I would at least try to use someone's recipe!

This recipe is delish. Tasty, spicy (as most of my dishes are), and filling. The more veggies, the better. A personal goal is to sneak in - or blatantly add - as many vegetables as possible. It works!

Sweet Potato Turkey Shepherds Pie

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Bake sweet potatoes until soft. I did this early in the day so that they were ready when I was preparing the meal. I like to wrap mine in foil, put them on a parchment paper covered pan, and cook them for at least an hour.

3. Prepare sweet potato topping. Whip following ingredients together. Set aside.

2 sweet potatoes
1/2 block of cream cheese
1 T. butter
black pepper (to taste)

4. Cook following ingredients in a pan until meat is completely done, stirring often and breaking up meat.

1 lb. ground turkey meat
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, chopped in pieces
olive oil

5. To the turkey mix, add:

1 10 3/4 oz. can of cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of water
3 kale leaves, de-ribbed and chopped
1 bunch broccoli, cut into small florets
1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 T. Mrs. Dash
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2-1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 T. home dried crushed sage leaves (or 1 tsp. commercially prepared sage)
4 T. worcestershire sauce

Cook until bubbling.

6. Put turkey mixture in casserole dish. Dollop sweet potato mix on top and spread to cover.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until heated through and bubbling hot.

8. Serve with rustic bread.

Next time, I will add chopped carrots to the turkey mix and garlic cloves to the sweet potato topping and cook the whole thing in a Dutch oven.


Angie Quantrell creates, cooks, and blogs at her home in the Northwest. Her imagination is enhanced by spicy flavors, healthy meals, and oodles of vegetables. A hungry husband tips the scales towards complete satisfaction in new recipes. The lack of leftovers says, "A job well done."

Best Ever Cranberry, Cream Cheese, & Turkey Leftovers Sandwich

Many, many years ago I was introduced to a turkey, cranberry, cream cheese croissant at the European Café in Yakima. Sadly, once I discovered this fantastic restaurant and exquisite sandwich, they closed their doors.

Many years ago, we adopted our own version for Thanksgiving night leftover turkey. True, the main dish at the big meal was delicious. But the leftovers smashed with cream cheese and cranberry sauce on a croissant was what we anticipated. That, and Christmas morning turkey quiche.

This year, welcome to the new version of our favorite sandwich. Healthier? Definitely. But that was really not the motivation. We just did not have croissants. We love the new and improved model. And no worrying about rushing to get the big croissants from Costco.

Already thinking about when I am going to cook the next turkey breast. For leftovers, of course.

Turkey, Cream Cheese, & Cranberry Sauce Sandwich

Ingredients:

~white meat cooked turkey breast

~cranberry sauce (we prefer the jelly type)

~cream cheese (reduced fat is fine)

~really good multi-grain and seed bread

1. Toast the bread.

2. Spread a thick layer of cream cheese on one slice of toast.

3. Add a layer of thinly sliced cranberry sauce.

4. Shred turkey and add as much as you like.

5. Cut in half. Devour.

Plot for the next meal.