I've been somewhat of an innkeeper lately with a friend of ours staying over at our house a few days a week as he completes a work project up our way. It has been no trouble at all having him as a house guest; in fact, it's brought back some fun memories since he was my husband's college roommate and my neighbor during my first year at the University of Florida.
We often give him credit for bringing us together since he knew before we did that we were meant for each other. So I figure least I can do is give the guy a hot meal and a place to stay since his foresight is part of the reason for my happy marriage.
But there is nothing that makes you think about your eating habits like having a house guest. I've found that the days that he stays with us, I try to offer variety and creativity in my cooking rather than just tossing together whatever is easiest as I would do if it were just the two of us. {Because it's completely fine to serve "chicken. again." to your husband on a regular basis.} You'd think that with all the time I spend in the kitchen, this wouldn't prove to be a difficult task... but you'd be surprised how often you fall back on
In a way, having someone else to feed has been a creative cooking exercise of sorts, which I greatly appreciate because I've been in a bit of a rut.
After returning from a weekend of indulgence at the Food & Wine Conference, I've been trying to get as many vegetables and healthy things as possible into my meals. But feeding two guys is no time to serve "light & fit" dishes, unless you want rustling in the pantry as they look for something to snack on immediately after dinner. That's how these Asian-Inspired Stuffed Peppers happened.
Hearty enough to satisfy the guys, but healthy enough to fit into my allowances for the week, they proved to be a crowd-pleaser. I bulked up just a pound of ground turkey meat with a variety of veggies and added quinoa for extra protein and fiber, which stretched the filling enough to fill 6 large pepper halves {and feed two hungry men}. The simple sauce bumps up the flavor factor and makes you want one forkful after another.
These peppers were thumbs up all around and still simple to make, which made for a happy visitor and pleased regulars, too. Don't wait for a house guest to try these out with your family!
Asian-Inspired Stuffed Peppers
Makes 6 stuffed pepper halves
3 large green bell peppers, seeded & sliced in half lengthwise
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 pound ground turkey meat
1/2 cup carrot, diced or chopped
1/2 cup broccoli florets, chopped
1 small zucchini, diced
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sriracha {or more if you like heat}
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced or grated
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil. Place halved bell peppers on pan and set aside until ready to fill.
2. In a large, deep skillet, heat about 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and saute until softened and fragrant, about 4-5 minutes. Add turkey meat to skillet and saute until no longer pink.
3. Toss in carrots, broccoli and zucchini and cook for about 4-5 minutes until just starting to soften. Add quinoa and stir to combine.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together soy sauce, water, sesame oil, sriracha, ground ginger, garlic and cornstarch {try to make sure there are no cornstarch lumps if possible}. Add to meat and vegetable mixture and stir until everything is well-coated and sauce is slightly thickened.
5. Spoon filling evenly among bell pepper halves. Bake for about 5-20 minutes or until the peppers become slightly tender.
Serve hot or warm.
