A couple months ago, my husband and I took a trip to the beach with our friends. Over all, I feel like I’m in pretty decent shape. I get up between 4 and 4:30 every morning to go to the gym before work. I work 10 hour days and live about an hour away. For a long time, I used this as an excuse…it’s not! If you want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen, even when you think you can’t! Trust me, if I can do it, you can too!
Over the past couple years I have been pretty diligent in my gym routine. However, I LOVE junk food and continued to eat pretty much whatever I wanted. Therefore, all my hard work at the gym was not very noticeable. This beach trip was sort of a wake up call for me. I was thinking “Man, I have got to get it together!” So, over the past month I have been trying to change my eating habits and make them more healthy. I won’t even lie…it’s HARD! If you know me at all, you know I rarely cook and usually hate every minute of it when I do. A lot of my unhealthy eating habits are due to the convenience of it. I also have to eat Gluten Free--not by choice…it is all the foods I love the most! I found out I have an allergy to gluten that causes a lot of pain, resulting in the need to find recipes that are gluten free, fairly easy and quick.
We have a freezer full of wild game, so I knew I wanted to use some of the ground meat we already had instead of purchasing meat from the grocery store. Antelope is my favorite, and that’s what I ended up choosing for this recipe, but you can substitute it with your favorite ground meat. I have seen several recipes for stuffed bell peppers recently that sounded good, and decided to try my own version and see how it turned out. I usually need a step-by-step recipe telling me the exact ingredients and process, but I decided to wing it. This recipe turned out to be one of my favorite things I’ve cooked, especially since I’ve never made stuffed peppers of any kind before! So, here it is!
Ingredients:
5 bell peppers
1 lb. antelope burger (or ground meat of your choice)
1 can Rotel
1 can Mexicorn
1 bag quinoa
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup salsa
1 bag shredded cheese
Seasonings to taste (I used about 1 tsp of Cumin, Chili powder, Garlic powder, and Lawry’s Total Seasoning)
Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350. 2. Halve bell peppers and remove stems, seeds and ribs. 3. Cook quinoa as directed on package. I use a Walmart brand that is a mix of red quinoa, brown rice, spinach, and feta cheese. 4. Brown onions and meat. Drain. 5. In a large bowl, mix all other ingredients together except 1 cup of the cheese (this will be used for topping later). 6. Lightly spray your casserole dish/pan with olive oil. Lay the pepper halves out and fill them with the mixture. 7. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Then, take out to add remainder of cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
I halved the peppers as mentioned in this recipe, but also left some whole to see which way I preferred. I personally liked them halved. I also learned later, that most people boil their peppers for a few minutes before hand to make them a little softer (once again…I’m don’t usually cook, so I didn’t know this). I may try that next time, but they tasted great just the way they were.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!!! Happy eating!!
Follow Lauren on Instagram at @lauren.m.cole.