Stuffed Peppers Gone Wrong

So, I like to play with my food and experiment in the kitchen, but not all my efforts meet with success.  I'm not too proud to admit that there have been quite a few times that I thought to myself, "Why did I do that?" after finally eating the finished product.  In fact, this just happened the other night.

My family loves stuffed peppers and I normally make them with ground turkey and rice.  It's a pretty standard recipe that many are familiar with, but I decided to try something new in it.  Instead of using rice, I thought that quinoa would be a good substitute.  I love quinoa and I use it in so many things, so I thought I couldn't go wrong.  Well, let me tell you, stick with the rice.

The peppers with quinoa weren't horrible, they had a good flavor, but the texture wasn't right and without the rice they were not substantial enough for a meal.  Both my husband and I left the table still hungry when normally we would be full.

So, now I know to keep the rice in the stuffed peppers and use the quinoa more in side dishes.  Lesson learned.

Turkey was cooked with tomato paste.

Quinoa was cooked.

Cooked quinoa was added to meat with additional seasoning.

Peppers were washed.

Then cut and prepared for stuffing mixture.

Stuffed peppers were placed in crock pot with 2 cups of water.

Peppers cooked for several hours.