Quinoa Beef Stuffed Peppers

This recipe is a great balance between meat-eaters (like my husband), vegetable lovers, and the health gurus (like myself and my sister Jenn); it has a little of everything.  Everything is good in moderation, so that makes this meal perfect. ;) Enjoy!

• 1/2 pound of ground beef (try ground turkey or chicken to make it even healthier)
• 4 large bell peppers
• 1 jar of salsa – Get creative with this. The salsa really makes the dish so change things up by trying a variety of salsas!
• 3/4 cup of cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
• 1/2 diced onion
• 1/3 bell pepper, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 1 cup or can black beans
• 2 cups of fresh spinach, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 TBSP of Black Pepper
• Salt to taste
• Pepper jack cheese (Cheddar or cheddar mixtures work too)

1. Cook quinoa and brown rice according to their packages and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
3. Brown the meat.  When your meat is mostly cooked, add in the diced onion and garlic.*Don't forget to drain the meat juice!
4. Chop all your veggies, Add veggies, beans, and seasonings to meat mixture.
5. Stir in your choice of salsa then carefully stir in the spinach.
6. To prepare your peppers, rinse them well then slice vertically through the stem. This gives you the biggest opening to load your peppers up with plenty of filling.  Tear out the white membranes with your fingers.  You don’t have to get it all but get as much as you can.
7. Stuff the peppers with as much mixture as you'd like.
8. Top each pepper with cheese. If you want to cut calories a bit you can go easy on the cheese or eliminate it completely.
9. Bake at 375° for about 30-35 minutes. The peppers should be tender and the cheese should be slightly crispy. If you want to avoid the cheese getting too crispy, you can cover these loosely with foil. (I didn't.)
10. Serve immediately. You can serve these over a bed of greens, with a baked potato, or on their own.