Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Tri-Color Stuffed Peppers (slightly adapted from KraftRecipes, Total Time: 55 min., Servings: 8)

I can’t believe that I’ve never written about these stuffed peppers – I feel like they are one of my regular recipes.  Both my husband and I really enjoy them, and use the leftover filling for tortillas.

Ingredients

• 1 bag Morningstar Farms Burger Crumbles
• 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen corn OR 1 can (14.5 oz.) corn
• 1 ½ cups salsa (medium or hot, or a mixture of both!)
• 1 ½ - 2 cups cooked instant brown rice
• 1 cup nacho or Mexican cheese
• 1-2 each large red, yellow, green, and orange bell pepper (I find that I have less mixture leftover if I used at least 5 whole peppers)
• ½ - 1 cup water

Directions

1.     Heat oven to 400ºF.

2.     Cook crumbles, corn and salsa in large nonstick skillet on medium 5 min. or until heated through, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in rice and ½  cup cheese; spoon into pepper halves.

3.     Place in 13x9-inch baking dish. Pour water into bottom of dish; cover.

4.     Bake 30 min.; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, 10 min. or until cheese is melted.

I like this because the peppers cook nicely, but are still firm.  The mixture is slightly spicy – depending what kind of salsa you use, but manageable for those who aren’t spice-crazy.  The peppers and corn add a nice crunch factor to the otherwise soft-textured dish. Low in calories, high in fiber and protein, and great as leftovers!  In my book, that’s tough to beat J