Stuffed Sweet Peppers

Stuffed Sweet Peppers

On Monday (soup day) I knew that I wouldn't have time to cook on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I still needed to feed the 2 families that I cook for (one is mine).  Ever have that dilema?  Of course you do.  We all do.  That is why "take-out" is so popular.  We don't always have time to cook, and yet, our families insist on eating EVERY SINGLE DAY. Amiright?

Years ago my sister told me about a class that she attended on preparing meals to freeze.  It takes a lot of effort (she would double 15 recipes and end up with 30 frozen family meals, the over-achiever.)  I admit that I never did that much work, but every once in a while I would find a recipe that freezes well, double it when I made it, and *shazam* I would have a pre-prepared meal for an unforeseen future meal.

Growing up, I never liked stuffed peppers that my mom made.  I don't like green bell peppers because they taste bitter to me.  I also never liked the greasy hamburger in the peppers.  For this recipe, which I DO like, I use red, orange, or yellow sweet bell peppers - they are actually ripe and not bitter like green ones.  I also use ground turkey because it doesn't have the greasy feel that I don't like.  Because of this, this turns out to be a fairly low-cal recipe.  According to my computer calculations, one serving is only 373 calories.  Add a few boiled potatoes or pasta if you like, a salad, and you are doing well.

This is one of those recipes that freezes extremely well and holds up well to being made a day or two ahead of time.  So go ahead, make it when you have time and cook it later or freeze it or double it.

Stuffed Sweet Peppers

Peppers:

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey

1 cup bread crumbs, seasoned or unseasoned

1 cup liquid egg substitute

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 large sweet bell peppers, halved vertically and seeded

Sauce:

2 cups prepared marinara sauce

2 cups diced tomatoes or 1 can diced tomatoes

1 Tablespoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

Heat oven to 375 degrees if cooking these as soon as they are assembled.

Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine turkey, bread crumbs, egg substitute, diced onion, sage, thyme, salt and pepper.

Fill each pepper half with an equal amount of the turkey mixture. Place in the baking dish.

In a large bowl (I actually just rinse out the meat one and re-use it for the sauce), combine all of the sauce ingredients.  Pour over the peppers.

If freezing the meal, wrap tightly, label with the instructions, and freeze for up to a month.

To cook the frozen peppers, thaw in a refrigerator for 2 days and then follow the insructions that come next.

Bake at 375 degrees for 60 minutes or until sauce is bubbling, peppers are tender and meat is done.  Cover with foil and let sit 10 minutes before serving.