Turkey Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa and Lasagne

     Awoke to a light dusting of snow - first of the year. Temperature was just at 32 degrees and rising, so snow was gone by 9:30am. Temps didn't get above 37 today and windy. Anything goes tonight and tomorrow, but no accumulation of anything is expected. I'm not sure I'm ready for winter - even though it's been cold, windy, cloudy, and rainy lately. Ah well, now there is plenty of time to plan for next year's garden and time to cook.
     The other day I threw together some stuffed peppers from things I had on hand. We thought they were really good. Next day I made an improvised lasagne that was tasty also.
                                            
                                                Turkey Stuffed Peppers

2 large green peppers
3/4c Quinoa
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 chopped fresh tomatoes or 2/3 can chopped tomatoes with juice
1 tsp salt
21/2 tsp Mortons Natural Seasoning or Spike or Mrs. Dash
1c cooked turkey (I used leftover turkey from Thanksgiving that I  had frozen.

Parboil the green peppers: Place in a sauce pan with boiling water to cover and cook 10 minutes. This not only reduces final cooking time, but also takes away the bitterness that is often found in green peppers. When parboiled, remove from water and set aside.

Rinse Quinoa and cook in 11/2c lightly salted water about 30 minutes until tender.

Saute onions and garlic about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and seasonings. Add turkey and heat through. Remove from heat and set aside

When Quinoa is tender, drain if necessary and add to onion mixture. If this mixture is too soupy, cook it down. I had to do this and finished product did not suffer. When mixture is the consistency you like - we prefer fairly soupy, a sauce like consistency - stuff peppers with mixture. Place peppers in a lightly greased casserole pan so peppers fit fairly snuggly. Pour any remaining sauce mixture over top of peppers.

Bake at 350 degrees until heated through, about 20 minutes. Or microwave on high about 8-10 minutes.

Serves 4



                                                       My Lasagne

A 2qt casserole, lightly greased

3 lasagne noodles, cooked and cut in half

3/4# hamburger, well cooked and seasoned with 1 tsp garlic powder
                                                                   and  2 tsp onion powder
8oz mushrooms - your choice. White button mushrooms, baby bellas, shittake or a combination

4oz 2% small curd cottage cheese
1/8c Romano cheese, shredded
1/4c Parmesean cheese
1/4c Mozzarella cheese
1/4c smoked Mozzarella cheese
             Mix all cheeses together and set aside.

2c spaghetti sauce - I prefer my Grandmothers' recipe, any you like will do fine.

In casserole, layer noodles - 2 per layer, meat, cheeses and 1/3 sauce.
Sprinkle a bit of extra Parmesean cheese over top and heat through in either a 350 degree oven or about10 minutes in microwave on high.