Stuffed Bell Peppers- easier than you think!

What does one do when Wegmans is having a sale on big bags of beautiful bell peppers?  Stuff them!

I reviewed a few recipes for stuffed peppers on foodnetwork.com, and combined some of their insights to make my own (superior) recipe.  Healthy and delicious as always :)


INGREDIENTS:

1 c uncooked brown wild rice

2c low sodium vegetable stock

½ pound lean ground turkey

½ c chopped red onion

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large handful of fresh baby spinach, chopped

black pepper to taste

sea salt to taste- remember, you’re gonna be eating an entire bell pepper here, so make sure you use  
       enough salt

pinch of cayenne powder

2T chopped fresh oregano

4 bell peppers, any color

3T shredded Parmesan cheese

3T plain Panko breadcrumbs- whole wheat, if available

Honestly, this recipe tastes best when made with chorizo instead of ground turkey…but it's still pretty close to New Years, so we’re all still trying, right?

DIRECTIONS:

Boil the vegetable stock or broth & cook the rice in it; cover & set aside.

Chop everything that needs to be chopped.

Wash the peppers and cut out the tops.  You will want to remove the seeds and the white stem things inside.  Discard the seed pod and the stem, but if there is pepper flesh surrounding the stem that you've cut out, salvage it and chop it up too for adding in with the garlic and onion. 

Stand up the peppers in a pot that is just big enough to fit them all.  You may want to slightly cut the bottoms of the peppers if they are lopsided so that they stand up straight, but don't cut deep enough to make a hole in the pepper!

Preheat the oven to 400

Brown the turkey over medium heat with salt, pepper & cayenne.  When turkey is nearly cooked, add the garlic/onion/pepper tops and cook until the veggies are soft and turkey is fully cooked.  Turn heat to LOW (or OFF if your rice is still hot) and add the spinach & oregano and any other spices you want to add. 

Add the rice and mix everything all together.  Sample to make sure you have seasoned it enough- my favorite part :D

Spoon it all into the 4 bell peppers.

In a little bowl, combine the bread crumbs, shredded cheese, and a little more crushed pepper (I prefer Rainbow Peppercorns) and spoon it over the now-stuffed bell peppers.

Carefully add about 1/2 to 1 inch of water to the bottom of the pot.   

Bake in oven for 30 minutes.  If the topping is browning too quickly, cover with foil.

Serve hot.

I really like this method- I think blanching & refreshing the peppers beforehand is kind of overkill.  Plus, baking them this way, instead of cooking them swimming in sauce, really helps the peppers maintain their structural integrity, shape, color (vitamins!), and gives the dish a fresher taste.  And, of course, eliminating a needless sauce logically eliminated needless calories and needless kitchen prep- double bonus!

From our friends at livestrong.com where I crunched the numbers, each stuffed pepper contains the following:

Calories 283

Total Fat 5.8g

            Saturated Fat 1.7g

Dietary Fiber 6.5g

Sugars 1.5

Protein 21.25 (whoa!)

Butternut Squash Baked Mac & (a smidge of) Cheese

I'm really impressed by this recipe, which I just served up for my Sunday dinner.  I adapted it from a health magazine and it was excellent!  It's a delicious baked mac & cheese with the added vitamin/fiber bonus of butternut squash!  Indulgent and creamy, but with NO cream, NO butter, and only a 1/4 cup of cheese for the entire dish! 

Your cheat meal just became healthy!

Best of all, I made it with a butternut squash my parents grew in their garden, that I snuck into my suitcase on the plane home from my parents' house this Christmas!  It gave the dish a gorgeous, deep orange color, making me feel like I was in Cheddar Heaven, but knowing that I was really in Vitamin A Heaven, which is all the more divine :)

Here are the details...


INGREDIENTS:

- 1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled & cubed into smallish pieces (~1/2 inch squares)

- 6 cloves of garlic, minced & separated

- ~10 fresh sage leaves, chopped & separated

- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I actually used unsweetened almond & coconut milk.  Whatever your milk du jour, make sure its unsweetened because the squash adds plenty of sweetness on its own)

-1 cup reduced sodium chicken stock

-pinches of sea salt, cayenne pepper, and crushed black pepper

- 1/2 pound whole wheat elbow macaroni (~3 cups uncooked)

- cooking spray or olive oil

- 1/4 cup shredded good quality Gruyere cheese

-1/2 cup plain Panko bread crumbs- use the whole wheat variety if you can find it!


DIRECTIONS:

-Preheat oven to 475, spray an 8x8 deep baking dish (like one for brownies) lightly with cooking spray or olive oil.

-Peel and cube the stem part (i.e., the entire squash except the bulbous bottom- save it for something else) of a medium-sized butternut squash.

-Add the squash cubes to a large sauce pan with the chicken stock, almond milk, pinches of cayenne pepper & crushed black pepper, most of the chopped sage leaves (~8 leaves total), and most of the minced garlic (~4 cloves worth).   

-Heat pot over medium heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 10 or 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

-When squash is soft, use a stick blender and puree until pretty smooth.  (Or allow to cool and puree in a blender)

-Meanwhile, cook the pasta al dente.  Rinse briefly in cool water and add to prepared pan.   

-Cover the al dente pasta evenly with the squash mixture.  Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

-As it bakes, put the shredded gruyere cheese, panko, 1/8 t sea salt, ~2 more chopped up sage leaves, and ~2 more minced garlic cloves in a bowl and mix together.   

-Spoon the cheese mixture over the pasta & squash and broil on low for about 4 more minutes (watching closely!) until the top is lightly browned. 

BEAUTIFUL!

Makes 4 very generous servings.

I did the math on livestrong.com's MyPlate feature, and came up with these fabulous stats:

 

Calories 261

Total Fat 4.28g

            Saturated Fat 1.3g

Dietary Fiber 5.75g

Sugars 6.5g

Protein 11g

I included a side of wild Atlantic salmon baked with a ginger glaze, just cuz I'm wonderfully indulgent.