Gluten-Free Stuffed Peppers

1. First, the peppers need to get prepped and roasted. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Thoroughly wash the outside of the peppers with cold water. Cut off the very tops and scoop out the seeds and membrane to have a nice, clean vessel for the filling. Get the peppers into a baking dish. Drizzle them generously with olive oil and season each of them with a pinch of salt. Roast them in the oven for 12 minutes to let them develop flavor and start to get tender.

2. In the meantime, start preparing the filling. In a small pot, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Pour in the quinoa and cover the pot with its lid. Reduce the heat to low and let the quinoa cook until tender for about 12 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Brown the ground turkey while breaking it up with a spoon. Season it and spice it with the salt, chili powder and smoked paprika. When the turkey is cooked, add in the shallot, jalapeno and tomatoes. Let them get soft and fragrant. Then add in the black beans, lime juice and lime zest. Let the mixture come to a low boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and let it all simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Both the peppers and quinoa should be just about done at this point. Take the peppers out of the oven, leaving the oven on, and take the pot of quinoa off of the heat. Fluff the quinoa with a fork, then pour it into the meat mixture and stir it all to combine.

5. Scoop a generous amount of the filling into each pepper. Really pack it in to get the peppers nice and well-stuffed. Depending on how big your peppers are, you may have some filling leftover. If you do, awesome! Put it in a container, refrigerate it and save it to warm up and have over greens for lunch! Put the gluten-free stuffed peppers back into the oven and bake them for 20 minutes.

6. Take them out and let them cool for a couple of minutes before serving. Top the gluten-free stuffed peppers with salsa. The quinoa gets slightly brown and crunchy on top which gives them fantastic texture. The inside is so incredibly flavorful and goes so well with the tender, sweet bell pepper.

The best part is, these are completely satisfying with zero guilt! Don’t you just love a dish that is so yummy to eat and is also great for the waistline?