Recipe: Chicken & Rice Stuffed Peppers (with creamy tomato-basil sauce)

I literally just chewed the last bite of this on-the-fly supper and I couldn't wait to share.  This is another one of those "clean the pantry" dinners that took about 2 minutes to create and 20 minutes to cook.  Perfect for a Monday night meal that's filling but not fussy.  I kid you not when I say a legit threw things in a pan and hoped for the best...that being said, eyeball all measurements!

EVOO
2 whole peppers, cored and sliced at the top

1 lb. ground turkey, beef, or (in tonight's case), chicken

1 onion, chopped

garlic powder

red pepper flakes

Italian seasoning

4-5 basil leaves, chopped

1 cup rice (any kind will do...i used jasmine), cooked according to package - sort of.  see note below!

1/2 marinara sauce and 1/2 Alfredo sauce, combined (OR just use vodka sauce and the work is done for you)

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut the tops off the peppers, and the bottoms too so that the pepper stands flat.  Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil and put the peppers on there, tops included. Cook empty peppers about 5 minutes just to give them a head start. 

In a pot, boil rice and cook about 3 minutes less than package suggests (the rice will continue to cook in the next step).

In a saucepan, heat EVOO and add onions.  Cook until transparent.  Add ground meat and spices and cook until brown.  Drain fat and transfer back to pan.  Add rice to meat mixture, as well as basil and sauce combo.  Mix well to coat.  NOTE: You want a pretty 'moist' (worst word ever but totally necessary here) mixture because once it goes in the oven, you don't want it to dry out.  If you need more sauce, add accordingly.

Take peppers out of the oven and spoon meat/rice mix into each.  Place tops on peppers and stick them back in the oven for 8-10 minutes.  Then, for 5 minutes, switch to the broiler (on low) to char the peppers.

Enjoy, folks!  PS- tell me how you like this! comment button below :)