Recipe: Buffalo-Style Stuffed Peppers

My husband recently lost 6 pounds (the jerk) and as he hopped off the scale, he announced, “Losing weight would probably be easy for me if it weren’t for one thing…my craving for rich foods.” I felt like saying “Well, duh!” but I held my tongue.

All joking aside, I am proud of his efforts, if he indeed made any. But I also cannot deny the fact that his statement rings true for many people. Rich, calorie-dense comfort foods are extremely tempting pitfalls when we are trying to lose weight. So it made me wonder what I could do to help him with his dilemma of loving “rich” foods and his desire to lose more weight. After all, I am a good wife, or at least I try to be.

Or is it being a bad wife if you are using your own husband as a guinea pig in your experimental schemes? Will he realize he is eating something that's good for him? Probably not, the poor unsuspecting soul!

First, I had to think of one of his favorite decadent foods. Really, just one of them? About an hour later, I had finally narrowed it down to about thirty or so…from Buffalo wings to chocolate lava cake. Wait a minute! Buffalo wings! He can never resist the tangy fried goodness of a Buffalo wing, especially when it’s drenched in blue cheese dressing! Hhmmm…come to think of it, neither can I!

My goal was to get the flavor of the tangy, hot wings, with a lot less fat and calories, not necessarily to make the actual wings in a different way. So I came up with these stuffed peppers using lean ground turkey and hot sauce. Even the Gorgonzola does not add too many extra calories. According to the label on this particular brand, Boar's Head, there is only about 110 calories in ¼ cup of cheese. When you break that up into five servings, it works out to only 22 calories per serving!

Listen, it may not be the same as eating a scrumptious plate of Buffalo wings, but all the flavors are there and it is definitely much healthier. It also may satisfy a craving or two! What's more, it’s one of the few foods that include your protein, starch and vegetable all in one neat package!

Give it a try and let me know what you think…

(Guilt Free) Buffalo-Style Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground turkey breast

4 or 5 sturdy peppers (any color)

1 bag of boil-in-a-bag brown rice

½ cup of crumbled Gorgonzola or blue cheese

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of grill seasoning

1 tablespoon of cumin

2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce

1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce

¼-1/2 cup of hot sauce (I personally use half a bottle)

Directions

1. Steam peppers until slightly tender (don’t make them too mushy).
2. Sauté garlic for a couple of minutes on medium heat.
3. Add meat to pan and brown.
4. Add seasonings to meat, then add sauces.
5. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.
6. Add 1/4 cup of Gorgonzola cheese.
7. Let simmer for another 5 minutes.
8. Stir cooked rice into meat.
9. Spoon meat and rice mixture into peppers, careful not to overstuff.
10. Use the rest of the cheese to spoon on the top of each pepper.
11. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.
12. Broil for 2-3 minutes to brown up the cheese on top.
13. Enjoy!

By the way…my husband loved these peppers and thought they satisfied his cravings as well. He was also very grateful that I was thinking about his health and well-being.

Peppers purchased at Circle Farms in Riverdale

All other ingredients purchased at A&P in Pompton Lakes