Skinny Stuffed Peppers

When you live in the restaurant world, you work late at night and all too often eat fast food, late at night, after a long shift. After years of working with chefs and seeing the burger wrappers and French fry containers in their cars, I know this all too well. My son, Connor, is now in that very position. He gets off sometime between 10 and 11 PM and picks up the drive-thru on his way home.

Even though there was often a plate ready for him in the fridge, for whatever reason, he would eat the fast food at night and save the plate for lunch the next day. Eventually, he got sick of it and finally asked for a healthy, vegetable and protein-heavy, but still light “something” for dinner. Sometimes, it takes time to realize what the body really wants.

These colorful stuffed peppers fit the bill.

Since I saw no reason to use half a package of turkey, half a can of beans, half a can of chiles, and so on – the filling makes enough to fill at least 6 peppers, or 12 servings, which is a lot of servings. Instead, this is a wonderful “cook once, eat for two days” recipe. With some lettuce or taco shells, the filling is perfect for a main dish salad, lettuce wraps, or tasty tacos for lunch or dinner the next day.

Black Bean & Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Filling
1 pound ground turkey
¼ cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans), thawed
7-ounce can diced green chiles
1 cup diced tomatoes or 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Bell Peppers
3 red, orange, and/or yellow bell peppers
1/3 cup water
6 tablespoons shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
2 avocados
Fresh cilantro sprigs
Chipotle chile powder

In a large skillet brown the turkey. When the turkey is browned, add onion, garlic, black beans, green chiles, diced tomatoes, and cumin. Heat through and then taste and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut peppers in half lengthwise, removing seeds and stem.

Place peppers cut side up in an oven-proof dish. Pack each pepper with the turkey mixture. Top each pepper with 1 tablespoon of cheese.

Pour 1/3 cup of water into the bottom of the dish. Cover tightly with foil. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until the peppers are tender when pierced with a paring knife, but still firm enough to hold their shape.

To serve, garnish each pepper with diced avocado, fresh cilantro, and a sprinkling of ground chipotle chile powder.

Makes 6 servings with enough filling left over for another meal