Taco Chili Stuffed Peppers

Peppers were such a good price at the market this week I bought a bunch and made one of our favorite dishes --- Taco Chili Stuffed Peppers!

Ingredients:

One onion

One small jalapeno pepper an d/or green chili pepper, if desired

Two large cloves garlic

One teaspoon Salt

One teaspoon oregano

One teaspoon cumin (optional)

One 20 oz. package ground turkey (you may use ground beef if you prefer, or leave out the meat of you are vegetarian and instead use cooked rice or grains)

Two 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes

One 15.5 oz can of black beans

One package frozen sweet corn, thawed, or 14.5 oz can of sweet corn, drained

one package ( 1.25 oz.) taco seasoning.

6 - 8 nice big peppers with flat bottoms so they will stand, cleaned, tops cut off, seeds removed and softened by parboiling them or microwaving them until slightly soft ..... about 8 - 10 minutes.

Step 1 --prepare peppers and drain well. Place in greased casserole dish and set aside.

Finely chop the onion and garlic and saute in olive oil until translucent, and add hot peppers if desired.

Add the turkey to skillet and brown thoroughly. Then add the tomatoes and stir well. Simmer until tomatoes begin to soften. Add one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of oregano and the taco seasoning package. Mix well and simmer for 5 -10 minutes.

Add the can of black beans and the defrosted sweet corn and mix well.

Simmer another 5 -10 minutes until most of the juice that has collected has been reduced. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if desired. I sometimes add a teaspoon of cumin at this time as I like that flavor -- you can add more of whatever seasonings you like in your chili at this time.

Now fill the softened peppers with the chili, and if there is extra filling just add it around the peppers in the casserole dish. Bake uncovered in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 - 30 minutes, or until peppers and filling are steaming and hot. To serve, remove one pepper to a dish and grate fresh cheese such as cheddar, or whatever you prefer, on top.

I also roasted diced cauliflower, diced zucchini and mushrooms that were tossed with olive oil which was seasoned with some diced garlic, salt and pepper, and some dried basil, oregano and rosemary flakes. A couple of teaspoons of a good Italian seasoning blend would do, too! I placed them in another casserole dish and roasted them in the oven at the same time as the peppers, to serve as a side dish.

It was a delicious low fat, low calorie, high fiber meal, full of flavor!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While I was in Key West last week I won Lisa of Lisa's Retro Style September give away! It was this vintage penguin salt and pepper pair, "Willie and Millie"!

Don't they make the perfect pair? They are sitting on my kitchen cookbook shelf, and seem to like living in Brooklyn, NY, now. Thanks Lisa, they make me smile!