For the first time since the year 2000, I’m working full time. Within the first week, I learned what the most important part of the day is-
LUNCH! I look forward to it from the second I leave my house at 6am. No matter how much self control I practice, my eyes stalk the bottom right corner of my monitor. Finally, around 11am, I realize that I’ve survived. I made it through another morning. Every minute past 11:00 or even 12:00 makes my afternoon that much shorter.
But it has to be good. I don’t want to just eat a sandwich. Bbbbbboring.
With a little extra time spent planning and prepping on Sunday, my lunch for the week is a breeze. I pack my cute little lunch bag with one Chipotle Turkey Stuffed Pepper in a GLASS container (seriously don’t microwave plastic…just don’t) each night and my morning has zero added stress as I try to get out the door.
I love a good “Before” and “After” pic. Turkey, quinoa, and chickpeas add plenty of protein to cancel out the stomach growls.
Oh and I work with my husband. SO I actually pack 2 of these for lunch. Lunch is never a concern for him. I even heat it up and plate it for him. He’s pretty spoiled right?
Almost everyday we have a lunch date with about 6 or 7 other work buddies. They’re all guys and I’m the only girl so ESPN is on the TV. Do they not know about Bravo? But still, the team that lunches together stays together so I put up with it, for now at least.
What’s it like working with my spouse? That’s an entirely different blog post.
Ingredients
- 5 peppers (any mixture of color)
- 1 lb ground turkey (at least 93% lean)
- 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobe, chopped finely
- 1/2 cup dried quinoa, rinsed
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 cup of shredded cheese (or more... any melty type works)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Cut peppers in half and remove seeds.
- In a large pot, boil water. Add peppers and cook 5 minutes, just to soften and take out crunch.
- Remove from water and allow to cool.
- In a larget nonstick Dutch oven, brown turkey. Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add stock, quinoa, tomatoes, chickpeas, chipotle peppers, and cumin.
- Simmer, covered for 20 minutes. Add cooked ground turkey and simmer 10 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Coat a larget baking dish with cooking spray.
- Stuff each halved pepper with the turkey and quinoa mixture. Top each with a large pinch of cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake until heated through, about 10-15 minutes.
- Remove foil and bake 5 minutes longer.
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