Fiesta Stuffed Peppers

Last weekend, I created this blog. I also cut out a recipe for Fiesta Stuffed Peppers from the Our Compliments Inspired magazine and decided it would be a perfect weekday dinner. To make things easier during the week, I spent Sunday afternoon making the peppers while the boy played what felt like his 20th hour of Modern Warfare 2.





Fiesta Stuffed Peppers:

1 small onion and 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 cup canned diced tomatoes (with juice)
4 peppers, halved seeded
2 cups instant long-grain brown rice
1 egg
2 tbsp coriander
1 can of corn

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a medium, nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, partially covered and stirring often, until very soft, about 7 min. Increase heat to medium. Crumble in turkey and brown well. Drain off any fat. Add tomatoes and simmer until juices evaporate, 7 to 10 min.
2. Meanwhile, blanch peppers in a large pot of boiling water for 2 min. Drain well. Place cut-side up on a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Combine hot meat mixture with rice and corn. Stir in egg and coriander. Divide mixture evenly between pepper halves, mounding as needed. Bake until peppers are softened, 10 to 15 min.

I used white rice, cajun seasoning a bit more tomatoes than the recipe suggested. Making the peppers felt a bit chaotic. I think I have to ease myself into this whole cooking thing. I got a bit flustered when I was blanching the peppers, cooking the rice, and cooking the turkey/onions all at the same time. I found that the stuffing mixture was way too much for the 4 peppers suggested. We had an extra pepper laying around so I used that. There was still extra stuffing that I ended up having to toss.

After the kitchen scrambling, I hoped the peppers would be amazing. They were just somewhat bland and not very filling. The boy and I agreed that on a scale of 1-5 we'd give them a 2. Edible, but I'd never make them again. We put on some salsa and cheese to amp it up, but they still lacked flavour.

Next week is my work Christmas party and I'm going to make Chocolate Raspberry Bars. The recipe looks a bit more do-able for this novice chef!

Introduction

I'm embarking on this new cooking/blogging journey because I was inspired by my good friend over at Cooking for 2...when you hate cooking. I've realized that my hubby-to-be and I have come to rely far too much on frozen pizza and microwavable lasagna. Truth is at the end of the day, the last thing we feel like doing is cooking an elaborate meal. So the recipes I try will have to be easy and of course tasty enough to replace our good old Garlic Bread Pizza. This blog is going to push me to step outside of the freezer and try some new things. I'm going to blog about my new recipes and the end products. Here goes!