Most stuffed peppers are made because there’s leftover rice around, but not this one!  Steamed cauliflower is used in place of rice, just to add yet another veggie. You can adjust this recipe in lots of different places: the herbs, the meat to use, the vegetables, etc.

Ingredients

• 6 bell peppers
• 1 small can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
• 1 small can (6 oz.) of tomato paste or sundried tomato pesto
• ½ medium onion, thinly diced
• 1 cup sliced (or diced) mushrooms
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 small head of cauliflower
• 1 cup shredded or thinly sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 to 2 teaspoons seasoned salt (of your choosing)
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley (or diced, fresh flat-leaf parsley)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (or table or kosher salt…your preference)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Slice the peppers vertically, as to cut the stem in half. (1 whole pepper will make 2 similar looking halves.)  Cut the core and veins from the inside of the peppers and strip away any seeds. Cut away any external stem arms.
3. Spray or lightly coat a 9×13-inch baking dish with olive oil.  Also lightly spray the outer and inner parts of the bell peppers.  Set prepared bell peppers in the dish, skin side down.</li>
4. Section and steam your cauliflower florets in boiling water with the sea salt until soft (approx. 10 minutes).  Drain cauliflower in colander then loosely chop soft, steamed cauliflower into smaller, bite sized pieces.  (I just use a metal colander then slice through the soft cauliflower with a knife to make the pieces smaller.)
5. Brown ground turkey in a deep skillet.
6. Combine with the ground turkey, parsley, minced garlic, seasoned salt, onion and garlic powder, and black pepper, while stirring and mixing in each season component.
7. Stuff the peppers half way with meat mixture. Add a layer of shredded cheese.  Lightly fill the peppers with meat mixture.  Sprinkle another layer of shredded mozzarella on top.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Peppers should soften, and top layer of cheese should turn golden brown.  If any juices form in the pan (there should be very little), drizzle over the bell peppers prior to serving.