A few years ago, my doctor told me to be careful with carbohydrates—I’m hovering at prediabetic A1C levels and have a mean sweet tooth—and with menopause almost through the door, I’ve been looking for flavorful dishes that combine vegetables with some lean proteins. After doing some recon, I combined a few recipes to make stuffed peppers in a way that Mom never would have—using ground chicken and riced butternut squash. Thumbs up all around for this dish, and I think I’ll be making stuffed peppers with riced butternut squash from now on.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups riced butternut squash* or white or brown rice, cooked
• 4 to 6 large bell peppers
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb ground chicken (can use turkey, beef, or tofu if desired)
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 to 3/4 tsp salt (if you cook with salt)
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp oil, for frying
• 15 oz can tomato sauce or leftover spaghetti sauce
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
• 1 cup water or broth, for baking

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and rice the squash* or cook rice as per package instructions.
2. To prepare bell peppers, cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and white membrane and stem, if desired. Add to 9×13 baking dish and another 8×8 baking dish (if needed) and set aside.
3. Preheat a large skillet on medium-high heat and add onion, garlic, ground chicken, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook until fully cooked, about 10 minutes, stirring often and breaking up the meat.
4. Add in the squash or rice, tomato sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Cook for about 5 minutes longer to incorporate the flavors and cook off some of the juices. Taste and add seasoning as desired.
5. Spoon the filling into the halved bell peppers, stuffing well with slight domes. Pour in water or broth into baking dishes, cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
6. Remove the foil, sprinkle peppers with mozzarella cheese, and bake for another 10 minutes until cheese has melted.
   Remove peppers from the oven and serve hot.

*To rice squash: Cut one pound of butternut squash into chunks, being sure to remove the skin first. Pulse in a food processor until pieces are the size of peas. Squash doesn’t need to be cooked before using.

Photo of peppers by Compagnons on Unsplash.com.