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!)