Stuffed and Baked Peppers!

In an effort to cook meals ahead of time for eating through the busier days of my week, I had an idea to make stuffed peppers. Not only are they delicious, but filling, and versatile.

In the picture we’ve got red bell peppers, the mirepoix (celery, carrot, and onion), as well as garlic, apples, feta cheese, organic ground turkey, pancetta, and cooked lentils. Clean up your peppers by cutting them in half and then pulling out the stem, seeds, and white pith.

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With a little olive oil, start by sweating the pancetta on a medium low heat. You want to slowly render the fat from the pancetta without burning it. Then add your carrots, onion, celery, apple, and garlic. Add some salt, pepper if you like, and any all purpose seasoning of your choosing if you have one on hand. I used a garlic and herb seasoning that went well with this recipe. Cook over medium heat until soft, about 5 or 6 minutes. Add your cooked lentils and stir them to coat in the flavorful oil. Then, add about two tablespoons of smoked paprika. After toasting the mixture with the paprika for about two minutes, take off the heat to cool down.

Once the mixture is cool, add and mix well into your ground turkey mixture. Season the mixture with a little more salt as the ground meat will need some. Once this mixture is well combined, you’re going to begin stuffing your peppers. Fill each pepper with a heaping amount of filling. This will shrink a little bit. Bake the peppers at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until the peppers are cooked through. If you’re unsure, you can use a foodsafe thermometer and check to see that they have reached 165F near the center.

Next, youll want to top them with a good amount of feta cheese, and broil them to perfection. This is the best part as the cheese browns, and they are hot and ready to eat!

https://www.instagram.com/alexmealpreps/

These will keep well for about 3-4 days in the fridge, and make for a filling meal at any point during the day. They travel and heat up well if you’re taking them to work. There is a little work involved, but they taste great, and are a great low budget option if that’s what you’re after.