Stuffed Peppers

Sooooo, another wonderful recipe here!!

Tomorrow I am starting a program called the 21 Day Fix, and I needed to find some healthy lunch options beyond salads that also included veggies ... you should know now this is a struggle for me (you have seen all the soup recipes right?!)  The 21 Day Fix is an awesome program focusing on portion control and whole foods but that includes workouts too!

Anyway, I was on a quest to find a good, veggie packed lunch option when I came across a stuffed pepper recipe that was designed with the 21 Day Fix in mind!  How lucky is that?!  So here it is, with my own minor tweaks and adjustments.

Ingredients:

• 4 bell peppers (color of your choice, mine is yellow)
• ½ pound extra lean ground turkey 
• 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1-2 T minced garlic
• 1 green container (about 1 cup) onions, finely chopped
• 2 yellow containers (about 1 cup) cooked brown rice 
• 2 blue containers shredded cheddar cheese (I use a 2% Mexican blend)
• 1 tsp each ground paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, lowry's seasoning
• ½ t salt (optional)
• Tabasco to taste (optional, I do not use)

Here are all the ingredients cooked and mixed up before stuffing the peppers and putting them in the oven!!  I tasted the "filling" and it was delicious!

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to package instructions
2. In a skillet with a spritz of spray olive oil, saute onion and garlic until tender. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In same skillet, brown ground turkey
4. Meanwhile, chop the tops off bell peppers. Heat a large pot of water to boiling.
5. Boil peppers for 3 minutes and remove. Drain on paper towels
6. Open can of tomatoes and separate the tomatoes from the juice/sauce, but SAVE the juice and spread it in the bottom of a pyrex baking dish. 
7. In a large mixing bowl, combine ground turkey, sauteed onions/garlic, 1 blue container cheese, 2 yellow containers rice, diced tomatoes, and seasoning. Mix well. 
8. Fill each pepper with mixture. Top with remaining 1 blue container cheese and sprinkle paprika on top
9. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes 

And here is the finished product!!  Cannot wait to eat this for lunch!!