Jack-O’-Lantern Stuffed Peppers

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Forget about carving a pumpkin, we are all about these Jack-O’-Lantern Stuffed Peppers!

These orange bell peppers carved into edible jack-o’-lanterns and stuffed with turkey and a blend of delicious spices are the perfect Halloween meal for you and your family to enjoy — Or to fuel up on before some trick-or-treating!

Don’t be fooled by how they look — They are actually very easy to make and a great one for the little ones to get involved with.

Choose to carve your faces spooky, or choose to carve them cute… Either way this recipe is a big (and healthy) Halloween win!

Jack-O’-Lantern Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 habanero or jalapeno pepper finely chopped (habanero is much hotter than jalapeno)
4 orange bell peppers
6 pitted black olives
drizzle of olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a mixing bowl combine the ground turkey, cooked brown rice, chopped cilantro, cumin, salt, black pepper, tomato paste, minced garlic and finely chopped habanero or jalapeno pepper. Mix until well combined. Set aside while you prep your peppers.
Remove the stem at the top of the pepper by using a paring knife to cut all the way around the stem. Pull the top off, flip upside-down, shake the seeds, and pull the ribs out of the pepper.
Lay the pepper on a cutting board, turning the pepper to make sure you find the best side for the “face”. Using the paring knife, cut an upside-down triangle on the pepper. Save the triangle that you remove from the front of the pepper.
Using a teaspoon, begin to stuff the peppers with the turkey mixture from the top and then adding more and smoothing from the triangle front. The pepper should be well packed with the stuffing mixture.
Lay the peppers on the cutting board with the triangle opening facing up.
Using the paring knife, cut the olive in half lengthwise, then using the half of the olive, cut a couple of small pieces for the “eyes”. Use the saved pieces of the orange pepper and make a small triangle for the “nose”. Cut a thin piece of the olive for the mouth. Repeat until you have all four of your peppers decorated.
Drizzle olive oil into a baking dish and place the peppers in the baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until a steak knife can easily be interested into the skin of the pepper and the stuffing is firm.
Serve with your favorite accompaniments. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!