Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers: how cute! Each one is a perfectly assembled personal meal! I got the recipe for these stuffed peppers from a health magazine last spring. It's a nice quick and easy (and healthy) recipe to have on hand for a weeknight meal, especially if you have leftover rice or couscous. I personally love green olives, so I welcomed the salty, sweet, and spicy flavor combination of olives, raisins, and cumin. Cayenne or red pepper would be a nice addition of you want to increase the heat. Leftovers also make a nice packable lunch. Toss the whole pepper in the microwave for 1-2 minutes for an instant hot meal.

Experiment with the filling. Obviously any combination of precooked rice, couscous, etc. combined with some veggies and seasonings (and meat if you want) can be spooned into the peppers, but it really makes a nice display of the dish compared with a standard stir-fry type meal. Plus the whole pepper adds more veggies to each plate!



RECIPE:
Stuffed Peppers
adapted from Women's Health May 2009
serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
4 medium sweet bell peppers (any color)
1/2 lb lean ground beef or turkey (the leaner the better)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup green olives, sliced
1 cup precooked rice or couscous

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut the tops off each pepper, and remove all seeds and membranes inside. Place in a baking pan.

In a medium skillet, cook beef, garlic, cinnamon, and cumin on medium heat until beef is slightly pink, about 4 minutes. Add raisins and tomato sauce and cook until mixture is hot, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in rice and sliced olives. Spoon equal amounts of mixture into each pepper and put tops of peppers back on top of the filling. Cover pan tightly with foil and bake about 15 minutes, or until peppers are soft.