Amy's Spicy & Sweet Stuffed Peppers

I have these great, colorful small sweet peppers from Green Bean Delivery that I have been wanting to use. I also bought the ground turkey from Green Bean Delivery, I am glad I have a new source for ground turkey because they usually only sell Perdue brand at my local grocery stores! 

If you haven't heard of Green Bean Delivery before, they service several cities in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri and the neighboring areas.  We are lucky enough to be in the delivery area for St. Louis, even though we are on the Illinois side.  They will deliver local & organic groceries straight to your door!  They have tons of produce and have been continually adding new items in Dairy, Nuts, Meats, etc.  I was introduced to them a few weeks back, and feel their prices are comparable if not cheaper than what you will pay for organic produce and groceries at the grocery store.  They are always doing referral promotions where if you sign up and name who referred you, you and  the person who referred you can get $15 off your next order.  Use promo code "Growing Season" and Referred by "Amy Head" if you are interested.  www.greenbeandelivery.com  The bins start from around $35.

Anyway, I boil these peppers for a couple of minutes before they are baked so the pepeprs are nice and soft, a common complaint with stuffed peppers...at least in my house :).  I also added a little kick to the peppers, because we like it spicy...but if you don't, just use a regular low sodium marinara sauce and don't use as much cayenne pepper or substitute it with regular black pepper. Hope you like it!

Amy's Spicy & Sweet Stuffed Peppers
(serves 4)

Ingredients:
2 pints of small sweet peppers
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp coconut oil
10 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
16-20 oz jar spicy organic (low sodium) marinara sauce
dash salt
1/2 c. shredded cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat a large skillet to medium heat.  Chop up onion and mince garlic.

2. When skillet is heated, melt coconut oil.  Add in onion and garlic and cook a couple of minutes, or until onions start to become opaque. Meanwhile, chop up mushrooms.

3. Add in mushrooms and ground turkey and cook, stirring, until the ground turkey is completely broken up and cooked through.  Add in oregano, basil, and cayenne pepper and 1 c. marinara sauce. Mix together and remove from heat.

4. Bring a medium pot filled with water to a boil.  Wash peppers, cut off tops, remove seeds, and slice in half lengthwise.

5. When water begins boiling, add peppers to water and boil for about 5 minutes, to slightly soften the peppers.  When peppers are done, remove with a slotted spoon.

6. In a large casserole dish, add about 1 c. spicy marinara sauce to the bottom of the dish and spread out with a spoon.

7. Place peppers, open side up in a single layer in the casserole dish.  Fill each pepper with 1-2 Tbsp of the turkey mixture.  Sprinkle a little bit of cheese over each pepper. (Note: I only had 1 pint of peppers, so that is what I have pictured. I just mixed the remaining meat sauce with some rice noodles, but would have made the 2 pints of peppers if I had them!)

8. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and peppers are soft.

9. Enjoy!! :)