Not your mama's stuffed peppers

Actually, I only remember eating stuffed peppers a handful of times as a child. And my memories of those times neither strike me as amazing nor traumatic. I do remember the peppers that were stuffed were typically green. This recipe called for sweet red bell peppers, which makes them, in fact, not my mamma's stuffed peppers. 

Eric, his coworkers (aka our friends), and I started a tradition that we fondly refer to as, "family dinner night." One night each week, one of us takes on the responsibility of preparing a meal and hosting dinner in our homes. It is a fun way to try different kinds of (usually healthy) food and to spend time together without having to eat at one of the greasy spoons or cantinas in town.

It was my turn last week so I decided to try out a recipe for Turkey Stuffed Peppers that I'd found on skinnytaste.com (one of  my favorite recipe spots). It was a wonderfully simple recipe. The hardest part was hollowing out the peppers.  

I followed the recipe except that I accidentally forgot the rice. It probably would have been tasty had I remembered it, but honestly I didn't really miss it. In fact, I didn't even realize I had forgotten it until days later when I starting thinking about what to include in this entry. If you are trying to reduce the amount of carbohydrates you consume, omitting the rice did not seem to compromise the flavor of the dish. However, the one reason I would choose to include the rice in the future would be to soak up some of the juices. The peppers and meat mixture were just a tad on the juicy side and therefore a little messy to eat (with the pepper a slippin' and a slidin' around the plate and whatnot). The rice probably would have helped with that...

And of course, it wouldn't be a meal in my house if I hadn't tried to spice it up. I augmented the recipe by adding:

1 jalapeno, diced
1 Serrano pepper, diced 

I'm guessing the peppers I used were not too hot themselves. The addition of them to the dish gave the meat a little heat, but did not make it overwhelmingly spicy. Sometimes ya get a hot jalapeno, sometimes ya don't. Except when you are at Subway. The jalapenos at Subway are always hot. Without fail. 

I served the stuffed peppers with a huge garden salad. We also shredded some lovely & creamy cheddar cheese (brought to us straight from cheese country, Wisconsin, by Sarah) to put on top of the peppers right after they came out of the oven. Unfortunately, our friend the cow had to meet his end in order for us to have it.

This picture is not for the faint of heart. Viewer discretion is advised.

And now for a note on impatience...

I am the type of person who will try to carry all of my grocery bags in on the first trip, despite evidence that points to this being neither an efficient nor effective way to conduct business. Just last week, I busted my lip on something that fell off the top of the pile I was trying to balance as I simultaneously fumbled with the keys in an attempt to unlock the door. The week before, I dropped my fruit, which is known to bruise easily, and it bruised.

And because it seems I was unable to learn from those experiences, I also decided to attempt to carry all of the recyclables (that I collect throughout the week) from the kitchen to the garage in one trip.

This is what happens when you try to cut corners:

Thank goodness cutting out that extra trip from the kitchen to the garage saved me the time I needed to clean up that mess! 

Slow down, Ninoosh, slow down.