Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers

I confess. I totally made this one up. (I thought I was so original – as it turns out, I wasn’t – but I was still proud!) But it came out really great!! I came home form work and had to come up with a quick dinner because, as usual, Giggles was “SO STARVING MOMMY!” A quick scan of the refrigerator showed that we had a defrosted package of ground turkey (score!) and my crisper produced a fresh red bell pepper. So I got to thinking…

With the help of my precious Joy of Cooking cookbook, within 45 minutes I had a scrumptious casserole on the table.  Here what I did:

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef or turkey
2 packages Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice
1 small onion (diced)
1 small bell pepper (diced)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 smashed clove of garlic
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 egg (I used 1/4 cup of Egg Beaters since we were out of eggs)
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1 cup shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Prepare rice according to package directions.  Sautee onion, pepper and garlic in a skillet.  Add the meat; brown and drain fat if necessary. Add rice, basil, thyme, Worcestershire, and egg. Stir to combine. Add meat mixture to casserole dish; top with cheese and breadcrumbs.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 mins.

I served it with a salad. Everyone loved it!