In the Kitchen: Stuffed Peppers

I tried a new recipe! I found this on All Recipes.com, I really love that site, I like how it shows you actual reviews of the recipe and people's comments, very helpful. I varied this recipe slightly and I would even recommend making a few more slight changes. Here's the original recipe. I cut the recipe in half, but went a little overboard on the veggies, so I ended up with extra of the mix. Below is the halved recipe, which makes 2 peppers.


What you'll need:
2 Green peppers to use for stuffing
1/2 pound ground turkey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup fresh spinach
Half (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Preperation:
Wrap both of the green peppers completely in foil, place in a baking dish and put them in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

While those are heating up, begin to brown the ground turkey in a pan. This was definitely a healthy recipe with the turkey instead of beef, but I would strongly suggest heavily seasoning the turkey or even using a lean cut of ground beef. I felt my turkey could have had more seasoning. Once it is fully cooked, set aside.

Gather up all the veggies. Put olive oil in the pan and throw all the veggies in the skillet except for the spinach. Cook until tender. Season with the garlic, salt and pepper, italian seasonings and anything else you think sounds good!

Once the vegetables are done, add the turkey back to the skillet along with the spinach. Now mix in the tomatoes and the tomatoe paste. Side note, I bought the same brand tomatoe paste we always had in my house growing up, Cantadina. I was extremely disappointed when I read the ingrediants list (once home) and the second item listed was high fructose corn syrup. Are you kidding me?? I passed up the all natural Meijer brand because I thought cantadina was so special, will not be buying that again.

Now get the peppers ready for stuffing by coring them. I edge around the top with the knife and pull that section out by the stem, then shake out all the seeds. You'll end up with this:

Now, get stuffing those peppers! Once stuffed, bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 350. Immediately after removing from the oven, sprinkle on parmesan cheese. The nice thing about this recipe is it's a full meal, all stuffed in one little pepper.