Stuffed Peppers

Another new recipe venture...this time STUFFED PEPPERS!  This one came about because we do Taco Night at least once a week.  I wanted to put a new spin on it and was reminded of a colorful magazine cover I saw from Rachael Ray with all sorts of stuffed peppers.  I decided it sounded pretty simple so I would give it a go.

I did a quick Google search of stuffed pepper recipes and figured out I basically roast the peppers for about 15 minutes before stuffing them, stuff them with the goods and throw 'em back in the oven to melt cheese.  Easy enough!  

I pulled out my ingredients and went for it.  I did not follow a specific recipe for this since I like to "wing it" in the kitchen and this one didn't seem too difficult to figure out.  If you want to see a formal recipe, check this one out here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained and rinsed
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, diced
• Peppers - choose whatever kind you like but the basic "go to" are bell peppers.  I portion 1 large bell pepper per person
• 1 bell pepper, any color, chopped (this is for extra pepper filling)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, diced or grated
• Olive oil (or whatever cooking oil you prefer)
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Chili Powder
• S&P
• Grape tomatoes, sliced
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Sour cream (light or full fat, whatever floats your boat)
• Salsa
• Tortilla chips - optional
• Lime - optional but if you have it a squirt of lime over the finished peppers tastes awesome

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Slice the peppers in half length-wise.  This gives you more surface area to stuff.
• Remove the seeds and ribs.
• Season with S&P and some EVOO.  Turn them cut side down.
• Roast in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until just soft and starting to blister.
• Remove from the oven and set aside to cool to handle.

• Meanwhile, preheat a large pan to medium high.  Coat with some olive oil and brown the ground turkey.
• Remove from pan and set aside.
• In the same pan, add your onions and peppers.  Season with S&P.  

• Cook about 5 minutes until they start to get soft (I like mine to have a little browning action happening.)
• Add your garlic and stir.
• Add your corn and black beans.  Season with S&P.

• Cook a few minutes.  Season the whole pan with paprika, cumin and chili powder.  *As always, season to your taste!  You can start with a teaspoon each and adjust from there as you taste.*
• Stir and cook a few more minutes.
• Add the cherry tomatoes and stir.

• Add the ground turkey back in and stir everything together.
• Now you're ready to stuff some peppers!
• Spoon the filling into the roasted peppers, top with cheese if you prefer and put back into oven just long enough to melt the cheese.  At this point everything is cooked and hot so it shouldn't take long.
• Top with sour cream, more tomatoes, salsa, tortilla chips, squirt of lime juice...whatever you like!

Enjoy this high protein, low carb, veggie stuffed dinner!