Are you like so many who struggle with prepping dinner during the week?
It can be easy to get into a rut and eat the same things on rotation, or ditch cooking altogether and order in if you’re out of ideas. Pro tip: try a weekly theme night to guide your meal choices like Meatless Mondays, Mexican Tuesdays, Soup on Wednesdays, Italian Thursdays, Breakfast for Dinner Fridays, etc. The possibilities here are endless, but the idea is that this creates some structure and helps direct your shopping and menu planning for the week. It also makes it easier to enter some new recipes into the mix. Next time you’re craving Mexican at home, instead of your usual Taco Tuesday, try making stuffed peppers. Bell peppers are an excellent source of Vitamin C and are lower in carbohydrates than a tortilla counterpart. Want to cut down on your cooking time throughout the week? Double the recipe to make extras for lunches or dinners. They make great leftovers whether served hot or cold!
Weeknight Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients:
- 4 bell peppers, any color of your liking
- 1 lb. lean, ground turkey
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 14.5 oz. canned, no-salt-added, diced tomatoes
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (or more for additional heat)
- 8 oz. canned, no-salt-added tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack cheese
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook quinoa to package instructions. While the quinoa is cooking, in skillet over medium heat, brown the turkey. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes or until it is translucent. Wash the bell peppers and remove the tops, seeds and membranes. Set peppers in a 9x9 baking dish or line them up in a loaf pan, so they stand upright. In a medium mixing bowl, mix turkey, quinoa, tomato, garlic, Italian seasoning, and pepper. Spoon into each pepper. Spoon tomato sauce evenly over the top of the 4 peppers and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 1 hour in the oven, until peppers are tender.
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– Keeley Mezzancello, MS, RD, CSCS
