When 5:30pm rolls around in our house, I feel like it’s game time for TJ + me. Prep + cook dinner, clean the dishes, bathe the girls, + get them both down. As I type that it seems quite linear. Simple in fact. Yet, if you were a fly on the wall it would look nothing like that. Which is why I’m all for shortcuts at that time of the night. Enter my arsenal of favorite crock pot meals. Easy to prep on a Sunday for the week ahead, or to toss it all together early in the morning, and have a delicious meal waiting for you at the end of the day….
Fall is the time of year when my crockpot gets the most mileage, so a couple of weeks ago I decided to try my hand at some stuffed bell peppers. We’d made them before in the oven… and they were delicious…. but took too much work at the end of a long day. So making them in the crockpot seemed like an easy solution. The end result was a hit with the entire family (toddler included), and there were a couple left over for lunch the next day. Which, in my book, is another win. Sharing the simple, healthy, and tasty recipe below….
INGREDIENTS
5 Bell Peppers, tops + insides removed
3 cups brown rice (cooked, I just use the Trader Joe’s frozen packages + quickly heat them up)
1 lb ground turkey
12oz can of diced, fire roasted tomatoes
1 jar of salsa verde (I prefer Trader Joe’s)
1 cup of diced onions
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 cloves of minced garlic
sea salt
pepper
black beans
cheese (loving this Dairy Free Queso)
guacamole
green onions
DIRECTIONS
1. Cut the tops off of the bell peppers, clear out any seeds. Poke holes in the bottom of the bell peppers to allow excess fluids to drain while cooking.
2. Mix the cooked rice (cooled), with the turkey meat (not cooked), diced tomatoes, salsa verde, spices, onions, + garlic together.
3. Fill the bell peppers with the rice + turkey mixture
4. Carefully place into crockpot
5. Cook on low for 5 hours + high for 3-3.5 hours. These are the optimal times with our crockpot… of course cook longer if meat is not fully cooked because all crock pots vary.
6. Serve with desired toppings.
