Stuffed Eggpplant with Ground Turkey and Quinoa

Dear Readers,

Are there days where you can't think of anything to make. You look in your refrigerator and all you see is left over vegetables. Then you look in your pantry and you see your staples quinoa and canned tomatoes? Well I came up with a recipe using some of your left over ingredients. For this recipe I used eggplants because that's what I had in my refrigerator. You can substitute this vegetable with either zucchini or red peppers. This recipe is very easy, healthy, and tasty. Below is my recipe for stuffed eggplant with ground turkey and quinoa.

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1/2 yellow onion (diced)
2 eggplants (1.5 lbs each)(diced insides of the eggplant)**After you cut in half and
hollowed out the eggplant keep the shell**
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley (chopped) * If you don't have fresh you can use 1
tbsp dried parsley*
1 lb ground turkey breast
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
1 cup quinoa (prepared-follow instructions on the box-I usually cook this grain in
low sodium chicken broth)
1/4 cup grated Locatelli pecorino romano
1/4 cup shredded Bel Gioioso Parmesan cheese
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2- In a skillet spray the bottom with pam olive oil. Brown the ground turkey and when cooked place into a bowl.
3- In the skillet add 1 tsp olive oil, garlic, and onion. Cook until translucent and then add the eggplant. Add salt and pepper. Cook until the eggplant is soft. Add the diced tomatoes, parsley, and cooked ground turkey. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4- In a large bowl, add the cooked quinoa, the eggplant/turkey mixture, and grated pecorino romano cheese. Mix and add salt and pepper to taste. **Since you added cheese you may not need salt**
5- Put the halved and hollowed out eggplants on a baking dish. Sprinkle salt and pepper and drizzle alittle olive oil on top. Fill the insides with the quinoa/turkey mixture. Sprinkle alittle shredded Parmesan cheese on top.
6- Bake for 30 minutes, making sure the cheese is melted and alittle browned. Serve immediately.