Chili, Bean & Rice Stuffed Peppers

One afternoon I was watching some YouTube videos that were in my subscription feed when I stumbled upon a video from Laura Vitale. It was a recipe on her chili stuffed peppers. The dish itself looked fabulous and it was a very unique take on having stuffed peppers and even chili so I decided to give it a try. I checked over the recipe and adapted it to the way that I make my chili, only adding in some brown sugar as Laura did in her video while I decided to skip adding cheese to my stuffed peppers.  The end result was nothing other than spectacular.

 

So spectacular that I've actually made these twice so far. They're so good, that my somewhat picky mother has asked me to make these a few times because she enjoyed them so much when I made them the first time. The last time I made a batch, it was Superbowl Sunday and my brother was in love ... so much so he took one home. They're utterly delicious, satisfying and a total hit!

Serves 12, 1/2 stuffed pepper serving, 5 points plus per serving (you can have a whole pepper - 2 halves - for 10 points plus values)

Ingredients:

* 20 oz. lean 93% lean ground turkey (you can substitute for beef if you prefer)

* 14.5 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained (you can substitute for whatever bean you prefer)

* 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, slightly drained

* 32 oz canned crushed tomatoes

* 6 oz canned tomato paste

* 1 medium onion, chopped

* 6 medium bell peppers, cut in half, seeds removed

* 2 cups cooked white rice (you can substitute for brown if you prefer)

* 2/3 cup water

* 1/2 tbsp McCormick Steak Seasoning (optional)

* 3 tbsp chili powder

* 3 tsp cumin

* 1 tbsp minced garlic

* 1 tsp black pepper

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 tbsp brown sugar

 

Cut peppers in half and remove the seeds (leave stems if you can, it helps the peppers hold their shape and filling better). Spray a large baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and add peppers into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

 

When peppers are done, remove from the pan and drain of any liquid that sits within the pepper and return the partially cooked peppers back to the pan.

 

Spray a pan with high sides with non-stick cooking spray, cooking over medium-high temperature, add in ground turkey and steak seasoning and begin to crumble up with a spoon. As the meat cooks, add in the garlic and onion and cook until meat is no longer pink and onions are softened.

 

Add in chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and brown sugar. Stir to combine, allowing the spices to blend with the meat and onion mixture.  Add in tomato paste and mix to combine.

 

Add in diced tomatoes, black beans, crushed tomatoes, and water and mix until nicely combined. Allow the mixture to simmer and thicken, coming together in roughly 15 minutes.

 

Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes before adding in your cooked rice. Stirring it in to combine well to make sure the sauce covers all the rice and the mixture thickens together nicely.

 

Using a measuring cup, add in 1/4 cup of mixture into each pepper at a time, until all mixture is divided evenly into each halved pepper (if you end up with extra mixture, use a teaspoon and divide the mixture evenly).

 

Pop the stuffed peppers back into a 350* oven and allow to bake for 20 minutes. Remove peppers from oven and allow to cool 15-minutes before serving.