Stuffed Bell Pepper Jack-o'-Lantern

Enjoy the Halloween season with this simple, tasty meal. Instead of making something sweet, make stuffed peppers for Halloween, dressed up and fancy. Use three large orange bell peppers to make the Jack- o'-Lanterns. The carving part comes first, then the preparation and finally cooking.

For the carving, you should use an xacto knife or other sharp utensil to cut your peppers. We got this set with multiple blades at the big box store in town. They cost around $8. Use a short angular blade from the set for carving the faces on the peppers.

I enlisted my daughter and wife to cut the jack-o-lantern faces. First, cut the faces on the 'best' flat face of the pepper. Make sure the features are cut on the small side or the pepper can tear apart after cooking. After the face is finished, cut the top off similar to a real pumpkin. The pepper will feel a little flimsy now, so carefully cut out the seeds and ribs from inside the pepper. This gives you a nice hollow interior to fill with your stuffing.

Here are pictures of the carved up peppers. This took about 15 minutes.

Now, for the stuffing. You can use any recipe for stuffed bell peppers. I made way too much but here goes:

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 1/4 turkey keilbasa sausage
• 2 Tbs Olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion diced
• 1/2 cup peppers diced
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 can tomato sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat large skillet on the stove top. Using two Tbs olive oil, saute onion and pepper until onions are no longer crisp. Remove from pan. Brown ground turkey in the pan, adding water or more olive oil as needed. Add chopped keilbasa sausage, garlic paste, tomato sauce to pan. Return the onions and peppers to the pan. Add the cooked rice and combine all the ingredients. At this point, shredded cheese may be added. I added 1 Cup shredded Mexican cheese to the pan. Mix. Now, you are ready to stuff the peppers. Cooking the tops is optional. They are cute though. Any unused stuffing can be saved/frozen for later or served on the side at mealtime.

Stuffed peppers ready for the oven! Set oven to 375 degrees F. Cook for 30 minutes or until the peppers are tender. Top with cheese, butter, spaghetti/tomato sauce and serve. Done!

I don't have the final pictures since they were eaten before I could set up the camera. As expected, they came out a little more wrinkled after the bake.

Now, go out there and trick or treat!