Recipes

Healthy Southwestern Stuffed Yellow Peppers

Main Dish 

• 4-6 yellow peppers
• cooking spray
• 1-2 T olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 links chipotle chicken sausage, or other Mexican-style or spicy sausage, casings removed
• 3/4 cup salsa (I used a chunky version, use less if you are using a pureed/more liquid type)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp cumin or to taste
• 1 tsp chili powder or to taste
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup brown rice that has been parboiled or even cooked (if using uncooked a little more liquid will be needed)
• 1 cup cheddar/Mexican/manchengo/whatever kind of cheese you want

Preheat oven to 375.

Cut lids off peppers and save. Remove core and seeds from peppers, and place on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan sprayed with oil. Spray peppers lightly, too.

Heat olive oil in a large pan/skillet. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and sausage. Crumble and brown sausage.

Stir in salsa, chicken broth and seasonings. Add rice and simmer for a couple minutes, absorbing most of the liquid. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.

Fill peppers with mixture and top with lid. Bake for 30 minutes

Recently, I participated in a blogging event hosted by Winos and Foodies called "Taste of Yellow" to support the LiveStrong campaign. The idea was to prepare something using a yellow food as a main ingredient.

I decided to do stuffed yellow peppers. I love yellow peppers but I rarely eat them. I think I just forget about them when buying green or red! Yellow foods provide excellent benefits, like supplying carotenoids, which can improve your eye health as well as protect against cardiovascual disease and some cancers.

Being that this was in support of a healthy cause, I wanted to make sure my stuffed peppers were very nutritious. Using chicken sausage and brown rice made these a protein-filled, heart-healthy choice.