Sirloin and Sausage Stuffed Peppers
Colorful bell peppers stuffed with a hearty mix of ground sirloin, spicy sausage and quinoa.
Servings: 8 pepper halves
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup uncooked quinoa (or 2 cups cooked)
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- ½ lb ground sirloin (lean ground beef)
- ½ lb hot Italian sausage, bulk or casings removed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (14.5 oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 4 bell peppers, any color(s) you like
- 1 cup (4 oz) mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Rinse quinoa under running water in a fine mesh strainer and cook according to package directions. (Note: we want about 2 cups of cooked quinoa, which is about ⅔ cup of dry quinoa cooked in 1 ⅓ cups water.)
- In a separate sauce pan, add the onion, ground sirloin and sausage. Cook & crumble until no longer pink. Drain & discard excess fat.
- Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the fire-roasted diced tomatoes, salt and pepper. Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise and remove the ribs and seeds. Arrange cut-side up in a 9x13 baking dish.
- Add in the cooked quinoa to the meat/tomato mixture, stir to combine and taste for seasoning, adding more salt and/or pepper if desired. Use a large spoon to divide the mixture evenly among the pepper halves. Top with shredded mozzarella.
- Carefully pour ½ cup of water into the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 (try not to let the foil touch the tops of the peppers - it will steal your cheese!). Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and peppers are crisp-tender.