Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Been so busy the last few days I can't wait for the long weekend!

So my "long" run over the weekend turned out to only be 7 miles but it felt good.  Now I seriously need to kick it up a notch. In fact I realized I'm still working without a plan. I bookmarked a plan  a  while ago but I would like to fine tune it and write it all out. I've been concerned about doing Crossfit while training for the marathon because it really makes me so sore. If we work the legs hard then it just kills me to do a run the next day. My physical therapist was saying how we need more time to recover as we age.  Well....I'm aged and it sucks. So I'm thinking about how to continue Crossfit without killing myself with this marathon.

Over the weekend we hosted a little swim party with our 4H club and

 one of the families brought these beauties......

Aren't they beautiful?  I've never seen purple bell peppers before!!! So tonight after work I decided to make some stuffed peppers. I made them with ground beef but it would be super easy and yummy to make it vegetarian. 

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Ground beef

Onion

Garlic

1can Mexican style stewed tomatoes

1 c quinoa

1carrot diced

1.5 c shredded cheese (your choice)

1t cumin

1t chili powder

Clean and cut peppers in half. I had to lay mine down sideways because they wouldn't stand upright. In a large pot boil some water with some salt. Boil peppers for 5 minutes. Brown ground beef. Meanwhile cook quinoa according to package. Drain meat and set aside. Use same pan to cook onion and carrots in about 1 T of oil. Sauté for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes (I used the spoon to kind of crush them) , cumin, chili powder, garlic, and ground beef. Add 1 cup of the cheese and mix well.  Place peppers in 9x13 pan (I sprayed first with Pam for easy cleanup) and fill with mixture top with remaining cheese.

I popped them in 350*oven for about 15-20 min just enough to heat through and melt cheese. 

Im not a photographer so forgive the picture. It really was fantastic with a great flavor. I wasn't sure about adding olives so we just added them at the end. This was a huge hit and I will definately make this again.

I will try it vegetarian as well by adding mushrooms and black beans and maybe some spinach.Yummy!