Skinny Italian-Style Stuffed Peppers

By gpawilson

Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints 4
Weight Watchers SmartPoints 4
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 6

Ingredients

• 6 large red bell peppers, yellow or orange or a combination of colors (each about 3 1/2 inches high and 3 1/2 inches wide)
• 1 pound extra lean ground beef (96%) or ground turkey, see shopping tip
• 1 cup onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 (14-16 oz) jar pasta or pizza sauce, I used Classico pizza sauce
• 1 (14.5 oz) can chopped tomatoes, drained
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
• 12 teaspoons Parmesan cheese

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 65mins
Adapted from skinnykitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut off the top of 4 bell peppers about 1-inch down from top. Clean out seeds and membranes. Throw away the tops. Set aside.

3. In a large nonstick pan, brown ground beef, onions and garlic. Be sure to break up ground beef into small pieces as it cooks. Stir often, until beef is browned. Pour beef into a colander and drain excess fat in the sink. Add back to pan. Stir in pasta sauce, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix well. Bring to boil, turn heat down to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Stuff each bell pepper with about ¾ cup beef mixture. Stand peppers upright in un-greased baking dish. Pour 1 cup water in the bottom of the pan to steam the peppers, while baking.

5. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil. Sprinkle each with 2 teaspoons Parmesan cheese. Cook uncovered about 5 minutes more until cheese melts and peppers are soft.

6. These freeze great! Once cooled, wrap any leftovers well in plastic wrap and freeze.