I could hardly wait to share these stuffed peppers. They are absolutely delicious! The filling tastes just like a cheeseburger. I've made them healthier by using extra lean ground beef, brown rice and lite cheese. Such a satisfying dinner, you'll be stuffed! Each serving has 349 calories, 12 grams of fat and 8 Weight Watchers SmartPoints.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 40-45 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 pound extra lean ground beef (96%), see shopping tip
1 cup onions, diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard (I used a spicy brown mustard)
1 tablespoon pickle relish
⅓ cup tomato sauce, can or jarred
3 tablespoons water
1 cup lite cheddar cheese, mozzarella or blend, shredded (I used Trader's lite Mexican blend)
4 large red bell peppers, yellow or orange (each about 3½ inches high and 3½ inches wide)
Instructions
1. Cook rice and set aside. Cut off the top of 4 bell peppers about 1-inch down from top. Clean out seeds and membranes. Throw away the tops.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. In a large nonstick pan, brown ground beef and onions. Season beef with a little salt and pepper. Be sure to break up ground beef into small pieces as it cooks.
4. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, tomato sauce and 3 tablespoons water. Mix well. Stir in ¾ cup shredded cheese and cooked rice. Mix well and continue to cook until heated through. Add 1-2 more tablespoons of water, if getting a little dry. Remove from heat.
5. Stuff each bell pepper with ground beef mixture, top each stuffed pepper with 1 tablespoon shredded cheese. Place each in a 9-inch baking dish. Pour 1 cup water in bottom of baking dish. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes. If peppers are not soft enough, cook about 5 minutes more.
6. Once cooked, cooled and wrapped, they freeze great!
Makes 4 servings. Each serving, 1 stuffed pepper
Shopping Tip
Happily most supermarkets sell extra lean ground beef. I used the 96% lean ground beef from Trader Joe's. You could use ground turkey, if desired.
Weight Watchers SmartPoints 8
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 9
Weight Watchers (old points) 7
SKINNY FACTS: for 1 stuffed pepper
349 calories, 12g fat, 5g sat. fat, 78mg chol, 32g prot, 33g carbs, 619mg sod, 9g sugar
FACTS:for SmartPoints
300 calories, 5g sat. fat, 3g sugar, 31g protein
Note:
1. The nutrition facts were calculated on Spark People.com.
2. The Weight Watchers SmartPoints and Points Plus were calculated on CalculatorCat.com.
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