It was boredom. Pure boredom. Food boredom + quarantine boredom led to this new recipe. My husband and I have decided we would like to come out of quarantine NOT double our going-into-quarantine size. (How about you?) So we’ve been trying to up our veggie intake, and reduce the oils, fats, and excessive cheeses. He wanted me to make stuffed green peppers because he remembered his mom making them years ago. Sadly, she’s passed, so there was no calling her for a recipe… My dig for recipes online came up with a lot of beefy, cheesy options that looked GREAT, but wouldn’t fit our new eating goals.

So I played around with a few ideas, looked for what needed to be used up in the fridge, and came up with this combo that really worked! It’s kind of like a burrito in a pepper, but we like burritos. No problem there. And here’s a cooking note: Rich (the husband) roasted these in his Big Green Egg for 30 minutes at 250 degrees. He used chips for smokiness, but we both thought it was too much, so he’ll roast without chips next time. And FYI, these could totally be roasted in the oven if you’re not blessed with a BGE, BTW. (LOL…)

Makes 12 peppers
(Points 3 per serving on WW)

6-12 green peppers
1.5 pounds 99% lean ground turkey
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1.5 cups cooked rice
14-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
14-ounce can corn, rinsed and drained *
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped sweet red peppers
1/4 cup fresh baby bella mushrooms, rinsed and chopped (about 6-8 mushrooms)
1/4 cup chopped red onions
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or 1 cup – but that will increase your point value on WW)
1 cup fresh salsa, such as Salsa Lisa

Trim tops off of 6-12 green peppers ** and remove membranes in middle. Set aside for filling later. Have Big Green Egg coals ready at about 250 degrees, or preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large frying pan on medium heat, cook ground turkey in oil until no longer pink. Season to taste. (We used garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and smoked paprika.) Remove meat to a large mixing bowl. Stir in rice, black beans, corn, and cilantro.

Return pan to heat and add chopped peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Saute on medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add cooked pepper mix-rice to meat mixture in bowl and sprinkle in feta and stir in salsa. Toss to combine. Season to taste.

Fill peppers with meat-rice mixture. Roast in BGE on rack above coals (or put in 9″x12″ glass baking dish and bake) uncovered for 30 minutes.

*In my photo, there is no corn. But that was a miss with this recipe. So add some corn. Corn sometimes gets a bad rap. But as my good friend and co-worker Christy Becher says, no one ever got fat just from eating some corn now and then.

**I made just 6 peppers for us, and plan to use the remaining pepper filling in corn tortillas with chopped lettuce. And maybe a little greek yogurt and avocado. You know, like a burrito…