Mexican Beef and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with Cilantro-Lime Greek Yogurt Sauce

Weeknights are always the hardest nights. I LOVE cooking and truly enjoy my time in the kitchen so every night I try to make something that tastes good but is fast. I rarely ever resort to fast food or frozen dinners. For this reason I'm always looking for fast, flavorsome dishes. This is one of my favorites. Super easy to make, in under 30 minutes, and super delicious. This can be made with any ground meats, I typically use beef but you can use chicken or turkey. You can also use any type of pepper; red, green, yellow or even poblano. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pepper and Filling

• 1 Cup quinoa, cooked

• 4 Green Peppers (or any type of pepper) tops cut off and cleaned of seeds

• Olive Oil

• 1/2 Yellow onion, chopped

• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced

• 4-5 Tbsp. Tomato Paste

• 1 Tsp. Cumin

• 1 Tsp. Chili powder

• 1/2 Tsp. Cayenne pepper (optional)

• 16 Oz. Extra lean ground beef (or any lean ground meat)

• 1/3 Cup raisins

• 1/3 Cup pumpkin seeds

• Salt & Pepper to taste

Yogurt Sauce:

• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

• 1 Tbsp. lime juice

• 1-2 Tbsp. Cold water

• 1-2 Tbsp. Cilantro, chopped

Garnish:

• Lime Wedges

• Cilantro, chopped

• Queso fresco

Directions

1. Set oven to broil at 500 degrees. Arrange peppers on a baking sheet and lightly drizzle with olive oil and season with Salt & pepper. Broil, turning once, for 5-8 minutes or till peppers slightly blister. Take out of oven and allow to cool.

2. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil at medium heat. Cook onions till soft 3-4 minutes then add garlic and cook for another 1 minute. Add tomato paste and spices and cook for 2-3 minutes or till mixtures becomes fragrant. Add ground beef and cook, breaking up into pieces, till browned. Add 1/4-1/2 cup water to beef mixture and add raisins and pumpkin seeds. Cook for 5-6 minutes till the water soaks in. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Once peppers are cooled down to the touch fill with beef mixture, set on baking sheet and broil for another 3-4 minutes.

4. Serve topped with extra beef mixture (if there is some left after filling) yogurt sauce, cilantro, lime wedges and queso fresco.

Time 30 minutes

Serves 4