Carrie's Spicy Couscous Stuffed Long Peppers :)

This recipe was completely spontaneous and it was all based on a purchase at SAM's.  

When I went shopping at SAM's this morning after my WW meeting I noticed they had the most unusual peppers.  These are long peppers.  There was a picture on the back of a stuffed pepper and it made me crave it.  So, I went home and made up my own recipe for stuffed peppers and it turned out really well!  

Ingredients

1 lb 99% lean ground turkey

1/4 cup caramelized onion(or you can saute a diced yellow onion)

1 medium zucchini, diced

8 oz of baby portabella mushrooms, diced

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

pinch of red pepper flakes for heat

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups cooked whole wheat couscous

1 14.5 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes

4 lovely long peppers of preferred color(s)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  

Lay the peppers down on your cutting board so they sit level and then make an opening in the top side for your stuffing and set aside.  

The caramelized onions are something I make in big batches in the slow cooker.  Then I measure them out, label them with date and put them into the freezer to use later.  You can find my recipe here.

These are a really great thing to have on hand as they punch up the flavor without adding points and they're so easy to make.  

Spray a large skillet with olive oil spray.  Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and spices.  Saute for 5 minutes and then turn the heat down to medium and cover cooking another 5-10 minutes.  Then remove from the skillet and place in a bowl.  Brown the turkey meat and then add the mushroom mixture back to the skillet with the meat.  Cook for a couple minutes.    

Add the precooked couscous to the meat mixture and turn off the heat.  

Next stuff the peppers.  I used about 1/4 of the whole batch of stuffing to stuff 4 peppers.  

One fourth of the whole batch of stuffing is 6 points so it's 3 points for two stuffed peppers.  

Place the peppers in a 9 x 13 pan.  Add 1 cup water to the bottom of the pan, cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.  

These turned out fabulously!  My mom and husband loved them and I loved them.

You also really feel like you're getting a lot of food and the points are very low.

This could also easily be made vegetarian by substituting crumbles for the meat.  

I could've added cheese but, you know what?  They don't need it!  

I hope you give this a try.  This is a keeper!

Happy Cooking!