Turkey and Feta Stuffed Peppers

I am relatively new to the stuffed pepper scene.

I say this like stuffed peppers are some sort of new cool thing out there, when in reality the stuffed pepper boom probably hit hardest in the late-80’s. My mom never made them, though, when I was growing up. She was too busy making linguine and clams and beer battered flounder {which I really need to get the recipe for one of these days}. Anyway, I only recently started making them because they are the ultimate “live alone” meal, in my opinion. I can make four stuffed peppers on a Sunday and have dinner set for myself all week long.  Let me just tell you — it’s just lovely to go to an evening yoga class, come home all sweaty, then pour myself a glass of wine, reheat a stuffed pepper from the fridge and watch Private Practice on my laptop.

Hi and welcome to my life.

Of course, stuffed peppers are a fabulous family meal, too! These, stuffed with a delectable filling of ground turkey, spices and feta cheese, make a great dinner option any night of the week…no matter how many people you share your home with.

I definitely added the feta to this recipe with a heavy hand. There’s a whole cup of the good stuff in these! It was one of those things though that while I was developing this recipe, I was tasting constantly and started out with only a quarter cup of cheese….tasted….added a little more….tasted….added some more…tasted…then DUMPED the whole darn container in! Perfection.

These were delicious right out of the oven but even better on the second and third day. Don’t you love that?! Same goes with chili and spaghetti sauce — they just taste better the second time around after the flavors have a little time to develop.

On another note, I am in Savannah right now at my parent’s house and loving every minute of it. It’s great to relax a little bit after spending last week in the car. I think, in total, we drove about 1,300 miles! I’ll be signing books at the Barnes and Noble in Savannah tonight at 7pm and looking forward to meet all you friendly Georgia people!

Turkey and Feta Stuffed Peppers

serves 4

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Ingredients:

4 large green bell peppers, tops sliced off and seeds removed

1.5 lbs ground turkey

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes

1 yellow onion, small diced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 stalks celery, small diced

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tsp salt

1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet on the stove. Once hot, add the onion and celery, and saute for 5 minutes until soft. Add the minced garlic and continue sauteing for another minute.

Turn the heat to high. Add the tomato paste to the skillet and mash the onions, celery and garlic together with the paste. Cook for three minutes, stirring continuously.

Add the ground turkey and brown with the veggies. This should take about six minutes.

Then, add the diced tomatoes, salt, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until sauce reduces and isn’t as runny. Remove pan from heat and stir in the feta cheese.

Place the green bell peppers on a tin foil-lined sheet tray. Fill each pepper with turkey and feta mixture. Once all peppers have been filled, cover peppers with a large piece of tin foil and seal.

Bake peppers for 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Time:

~1 hour