STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

i love stuffed bell peppers! or, really anything you can stuff. my grandma makes this crab dish, where she reuses the top shell as the baking & serving tool. i made stuffed bell peppers this past halloween, but they were extremely spicy...which made them hard to eat, but they were fun because they looked like mini jack-o-lanterns (i'll save that for a future/follow-up post). when i was looking for something inspirational to make for dinner, i found this beautiful photo of stuffed bell peppers with melted cheese on top. i mean, it is really hard not to resist anything with melted cheese. what was fun about this recipe is that i've never cooked with ground chicken and i loved the idea of incorporating rice. there were a couple things i may try next time though: 1) add beans...i love beans & rice and 2) preheat peppers in the oven while making the stuffing to soften & roast the peppers...in this recipe, the peppers only go in the oven for 7 minutes, so when everything's said and done, the exterior was still harder and more raw than i'd prefer. either way, this was an awesome recipe that felt pretty healthy. enjoy!

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS
posted on heat to 350° by nicole on april 20, 2011

• 3-4 large bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
• 1 medium onion
• 1lb ground chicken or turkey
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 T chili powder (reduce to 1/2 if you don't like spicy food)
• 1 T ground cumin
• 16oz jar of salsa (choose your favorite - i chose a mild roasted pepper)
• 1 c cooked rice
• 1-2 c shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 c baby spinach
• 2 avocados
• sour cream

preheat oven to 350°F.

in a large skillet over medium heat, brown turkey/chicken with onions. stir in minced garlic, chili powder, and cumin and cook for 1 minute. stir in salsa and rice.

place cut peppers on a cookie sheet and divide stuffing mixture between them. top with cheddar cheese and bake for 7 minutes.

serve with sour cream, avocado, and spinach on top.