Mexican Poblano Stuffed Peppers

So I decided to give this recipe a try that I found on the cleaneatingmag.com website.  I looked at the prep time and the cook time and thought, wow this is going to be a quick and easy dinner!  But I obviously did not read the recipe!  So it took me way longer than I anticipated but it was worth it!  For those of you that are vegetarians this is a great recipe and for those of you that want to try it out I would go for it!!!  I'll give you the recipe the way I found it and then tell you what I added!  It was yummy!!!

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked red beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup cooked long-grain brown rice

1/2 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed

1 medium tomato, diced

1 small zucchini, diced

2 tbsp onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp ground chile powder

1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves, chopped

1 tsp olive oil

1/8 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Olive oil cooking spray

4 large poblano peppers (or 4 large sweet green bell peppers), seeded and cut in half

8 tbsp shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend

4 tbsp low-fat sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, mix beans, rice, corn, tomato, zucchini, onion, garlic, chile powder, cilantro, oil, salt and black pepper. (Stuffing mixture can be prepared 1 day in advance and stored in a container in refrigerator, tightly covered with plastic wrap.)
2. Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Mound 1/2 cup stuffing mixture into each poblano pepper half and place in roasting pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with Mexican cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.
3. To serve, top each stuffed pepper half with 1/2 tbsp sour cream. Serve immediately.

Nutrients per 2 stuffed pepper halves: Calories: 242, Total Fat: 7 g, Sat. Fat: 3 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5 g, Carbs: 35 g, Fiber: 8 g, Sugars: 6 g, Protein: 12 g, Sodium: 197 mg, Cholesterol: 17 mg

 

What I did differently:

I cut and seeded the peppers and then boiled them for a few minutes until tender.  Just so the cook time wouldn't be so long.  Also, make sure that you leave time to cook the long grain brown rice.  It takes an hour to cook!!  You can make it the night before!  Also, I added some tomato sauce to give it some juice as well!  I could see that you could add in some ground turkey if you needed the additional protein but the beans will definitely give you the fiber as well!  I absolutely enjoyed this meal and loved the Mexican twist!!  This will for sure be a regular in our household!!