Turkey and vegetable stuffed bell peppers.. HOW TO PHOTOS & recipe tips

Ripe orange bell peppers... halve, remove stalk and seeds,..cook for 3 mins in boiling salted water and drain well

The base for the filling, onions, garlic, carrots, onions, celery, rutabagas..process small then saute in a little olive oil adding water or stock until tender

Add the fresh ground turkey to the filling mix and allow the turkey to cook and soak up the flavors of the vegetables..adding canned chopped tomatoes (ratio: for 4 servings,1 pound ground turkey to 1 pound mixed vegetables to  1 CUP chopped tomatoes in juice)

Add herbs of choice..dried oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary & etc. and allow to marinade overnight

Make a  marinara* sauce (*wine optional) and add some sliced mushrooms, use this as the base for the dish, add the cooked bell pepper halves

Top with the cooked turkey and vegetable mix..pile high

Top with fresh basil leaves and cheese (optional)

to be baked, covered in a  preheated 350f oven for 30-40 mins..serve with couscous or cooked brown rice

This is a wonderful and light, gluten-free dish (if served with rice instead of couscous), and you may substitute any ground meat other than turkey, but if using chicken use dark meat for a moister finished dish.

You can also add cooked brown rice to the turkey filling and or raisins..for a more Sicilian flavor.