This recipe has haunted me for the last four months. Never having made a stuffed pepper before nonetheless even eaten one, I was extremely nervous about the skills needed to complete the lengthy directions and how my inexperience would affect the final taste. Finally on Memorial Day, mainly because Justin was home to help, I decided it was time to conquer my stuffed pepper fears. While I stuck to what I knew (browning meat and sauteing vegetables), Justin took over prepping the peppers for stuffing (my hero), which worked perfectly as it minimized the hands on time and allowed us to hang out in the kitchen for a little bit (awe, isn’t he so helpful!?). The result? Absolutely amazing not to mention extremely filling. Will definitely be making these in the near future. Have you ever made stuffed peppers before?
FYI…We cut the original recipe in half from six stuffed peppers to only three which was perfect for two people! Check the link for the original six pepper recipe or simply double the amounts below! 🙂
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Ingredients (adapted from here):
3 red or green peppers, or a mixture of both
1/2 lb ground turkey
9 oz (3 links) hot or mild turkey Italian sausage
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup diced pepper from the tops of peppers
4 tsp olive oil for browning meat and veggies
1/2 cup tomato sauce with basil
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375. Cut tops off the peppers, making a deep enough cut that you have some pepper to chop for the filling. Square off the bottom of each pepper to make them stand up and cut a small hole in the bottom so any extra juices can easily drain out. Clean out the inside of the peppers and wash if needed. Choose a pan that will keep the peppers standing upright and spray with olive oil or nonstick spray.
2. In very large frying pan, heat a small amount of olive oil and cook ground turkey until lightly browned. Put the browned ground turkey in a colander and rinse with very hot water to drain and remove fat. In the same frying pan, add a tiny amount of olive oil, squeeze turkey sausage out of links, and cook until lightly brown. Add to ground turkey in the colander and rinse again with hot water; set aside.
3. Add a bit more oil to pan and cook chopped peppers and onions for about 3-4 minutes or until barely starting to soften. Turn off the heat and add meat back into the pan with the cooked peppers and onions. Add about 1/2 cup tomato sauce or just enough to barely moisten the mixture; season with salt and pepper to taste. Let the mixture cool slightly and mix in the two cheeses, saving about 1/8 cup Mozzarella for the top of the peppers.
4. Put the peppers in the sprayed pan standing upright. Using a large spoon stuff each pepper with the meat/veggie/cheese mixture making sure to press the mixture in tightly until you use all the filling. Put a pinch of Mozzarella cheese on the top of each pepper. Cover the dish loosely with foil, tenting it up so it doesn’t touch the tops of the peppers. Bake covered with foil about 30 minutes. Take off the foil and bake about 20 additional minutes, until the cheese is melted completely and top is slightly browned.  Serve hot.
**Recipe Source:Â Kalyn’s Kitchen**
Seattle is apparently experiencing their coldest weather in fifteen years….and it is a high of 33 here. As a Midwest girl, I am experiencing the mildest winter in my twenty-eight years while also getting in some good chuckles listening to these Seattleites complain about the freezing cold weather and gasp the thought of actually getting snow. Don’t get me wrong, I do NOT for one second miss the bone chilling wind of Chicago or romping through knee-high piles of snow on the way to work, I just hope and pray that I never lose my ingrained Midwest winter coat and forever think 33 is warm for December. Regardless, I will take any excuse to warm up with a hot pot of chili.
Healthy Turkey Chili (via):
The Thread Affect 