Turkey Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with an Avocado “Cream”

This is one of my favorite recipes to date for a few reasons. First of all, it’s really good. Like, SERIOUSLY good. Second of all, it WON me a recipe contest on one of my favorite Instagrams/blogs, Spoonful of Fit! As a result, I got hundreds of new followers on my dinky little Instagram, which now has almost 500 followers. That may not seem like a lot to someone who’s “Internet famous,” but to a random girl taking pictures of her lunch on her iPhone hoping to get recognized, that’s a sizeable step in the right direction!

When I made these, I was looking for a way to jazz up my meal prep for the week and do something special by entering the recipe contest, but I tried to keep it as simple as possible.

Turkey Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with an Avocado “Cream” (Makes 6-8 servings)

• 1 cup plain, uncooked quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable stock (no salt added)
• 1 tsp olive or coconut oil
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 5 links lean turkey sausage
• 2 cups spinach
• 3-4 medium-large bell peppers
• 1 avocado
• 1 container plain, fat free Greek Yogurt
• Garlic powder

Bring quinoa and veggie stock to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce to simmer and add 2 cloves of minced garlic when the broth is about halfway absorbed. Once the liquid is mostly absorbed, reduce heat all the way. In a separate pan, cook the turkey sausage (just the meat, no skins) on medium heat with 3 cloves minced garlic in a teeny bit of olive or coconut oil to keep the garlic from burning. Season with whatever you like, I used black pepper, a pinch of thyme, and Trader Joe’s South African Smoke Seasoning. Once the sausage is mostly cooked through, add the spinach until it wilts. Drain the fat and liquid, and add the sausage mixture to the quinoa. Stir, and let sit for a few minutes.

Cut each pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds/stem/ribs. Fill each half with the mixture and bake at 375˚ for about 25-30 minutes.

To make the avocado cream, mash the avocado and yogurt and add garlic powder to taste.

BUT WAIT!

TIP: You can make this recipe Paleo and barely notice the difference!

 

How? Replace the quinoa with 2 cups riced cauliflower (raw, do not add extra liquid). Add extra seasoning if you’d like to make up for the flavor from not having veggie stock, and/or use a pre-seasoned sausage (I used a tomato basil variety for this version) for more flavor. Cut out the yogurt from the avocado cream and just use mashed avo and garlic powder! And if you’re vegan, replace the sausage with your favorite meat substitute, seasoned tofu, or some roasted veggies, and use almond milk or soy yogurt!

You should definitely go make this recipe as soon as you can. And if you don’t want to take my word for it, ask the people on Instagram who have already tried it and loved it 😉