Turkey Taco Quinoa Stew

I originally wrote this in February...and was so proud because I was going to post up two entries in a week!...and then life kicked in. I'm really sorry >.<

But!!! - in order to make up for my sporadic posts, I have decided to post up one of my favorite dishes. It's not new to me, but it's really just so delicious that I had to share.

The original recipe from greenlitebites.com was so great that I mostly only changed the addition of cheese (because you really don't need it in the stew). I changed the proportions of the other ingredients based on personal preference and replaced some ingredients based on what I had on hand...no big differences but still, enjoy!

Turkey Taco Quinoa Stew - Serves 6

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Ground Turkey

1 package of taco seasoning

2-3 tbsp of canola oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 cup of Quinoa, rinsed

1 14oz to 15 oz can of chicken broth

1 14oz to 15 oz can of black beans

1 14oz to 15 oz can of diced tomatoes with jalepeños

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium to medium-high heat. Brown onions and turkey until turkey is no longer pink.

2. Add zucchini, bell pepper, and taco seasoning to pot, stirring ingredients until seasoning is evenly distributed.

3. Add chicken broth, black beans, tomatoes, and quinoa to pot. For a wetter stew, fill tomato can with water, swirl, and dump contents into pot as well.

4. Stir to evenly distribute ingredients, bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes (until quinoa soaks up most of the liquid...or until you can see the sprouts from the quinoa). You might want to stir up the bottom once or twice to keep the quinoa from sticking to the bottom and burning.

5. Enjoy!

Stuffed Pepper and Zucchini Galore!

Note: All of my good pictures were deleted from my battery deprived camera. I apologize in advance for the less than glamorous shots of food stuffs that now follow >.<

I know, I know. It's been a month. I've missed you blog. School sucks, and I've been surviving off of those yummy, filling, easy to cook carbs (mostly spaghetti and sandwiches >.<).

But alas; I planned on making a certain stew but realized I was missing two main ingredients...and the bell pepper (because I only had one pepper >.<) and zucchini I bought for that recipe were going bad. So, I thought, why not stuff the giant green bell pepper with zucchini and ground turkey? So I googled a recipe for the specifics on heating times and kinda winged the ingredients...turned out reallyyy good though =]

Stuffed Pepper with Turkey and Zucchini - Yields 1 serving

Ingredients:

One Large Green Bell Pepper

2-3 tbps cooking oil (I used Canola Oil)

1/4 lb Ground Turkey

1/2 Large Zucchini, chopped

3/4 small cooking onion, chopped

3 tbsp spaghetti/tomato sauce

Garlic Powder to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cut the top off of pepper and either throw away the top or cut up the extra pepper flesh for the filling. Remove all seeds from the rest of the pepper and wrap the pepper in aluminum foil. Put in oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

3. Over medium heat, heat a pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil and cook the turkey until evenly browned. Set aside.

4. Using the rest of the oil, heat the zucchini, onion, and pepper bits (if you took any from the top) until tender. Add the turkey with the mixture and stir in the tomato sauce, garlic powder,

salt, and pepper.

5. Stuff the mixture into the pepper and return to oven for

15 more minutes. Enjoy when ready!

While the stuffed pepper was cooking, I looked over to the leftover zucchini and onion and decided to make a quick zucchini egg dish.

Zucchini & Eggs - Yields 1 serving

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beat

1/2 zucchini, sliced

1 tbsp canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Saute zucchini slices until tender. Spread the slices out in a layer covering the bottom of the pan.

2. Season eggs with salt and pepper to taste and pour eggs over zucchini.

3. Cook until eggs are at the consistency you want, flipping and scrambling at your discretion.

Needless to say, I gobbled down this second dish before the first one finished baking...so I actually had leftovers! Yay lunch!

I will be updating within the week with that stew post...going grocery shopping today! Woo!