Turkey Stuffed Peppers

I was walking through the grocery store looking for something to cook and they had a huge display of bell peppers and it got me thinking! Like most of us, I have a few friends trying to lose weight and are always wondering what they can eat that is healthy and low in fat. So I decided to make my own version of a stuffed pepper, but one with turkey, black beans, some green chiles, mushrooms, and of course Mexican in a Minute.  This is just a base recipe.  You can use any of our seasoning blends if you prefer.

INGREDIENTS:

2 tsp Mexican in a Minute**
4 bell peppers, seeds removed and cut in half
1 pound ground turkey
4-5 brown mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion
1 can black beans
1 can green chiles
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, cubed

DIRECTIONS:

Here are the ingredients that I used.

Grab a knife and a cutting board. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Chop half an onion somewhat small. See in the picture below. Wash the mushrooms to get off any dirt left on them. Pull the stem off and discard. Cut the mushroom in half, then into quarters. Then turn the mushroom and cut it into small cubes. Next you want to cut the bell peppers in half, lengthwise and remove the seeds. Open the can of black beans, strain and discard the liquid and give them a rinse. Set everything up next to your stove and grab a large saute pan.

Turn your stove on to medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to it and let the oil get hot. Add the onions and the mushrooms as well as 1 teaspoon of Mexican in a Minute. Saute over medium high heat for 4-6 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Add the turkey and the last teaspoon of Mexican in a Minute. Using a spoon or a spatula, break up the turkey meat so there are no large chunks. Once the meat is broken into smaller pieces, add the black beans and the green chiles. Mix well. Do this quickly though - you don't want to cook the turkey all the way. I think it is better if you let the turkey fully cook once you have stuffed the pepper and put it in the oven.

Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. While it is cooling, grate or cube the cheddar cheese then add it to the turkey mixture then stuff the peppers. I like to do this so when you cut into the pepper you get little bites of cheese mixed throughout it. You might have more stuffing left over once you have filled the peppers, that's okay. You can add it to the the tops of the peppers once you place them in a pan for baking. Grab a backing dish large enough to hold the peppers upright. Place the peppers in the backing dish then top them off with the left over stuffing you have. Add 1/4 cup of chicken stock (or water if you don't have any stock) then cover with foil and place in your preheated oven. Set the timer for 30 minutes.

After they have cooked for 30 minutes, remove the foil and sprinkle more cheese on top. Place back in the oven and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. Enjoy...

**Like with most of our recipes, this can be made with any of  our 9 seasoning blends. All you need to do is use the seasoning of your choice and you can make this recipe taste 9 different ways. Experiment a little too - perhaps use rice instead of beans, or some other kind of vegetable. Perhaps corn too! Yummm...corn would be good too! I'll have to do that next time.