This is for my vegetarian friends & family but it is totally meat-eater approved too. These are really filling, packed with lean protein and veggies, can be made ahead of time, and reheat well. I generally like to just eat one half as a side dish or snack but you could also eat two halves for a really satisfying meal.
Ingredients:
*2 bell peppers-red or green (red will be sweeter)
*1-6oz jar marinated artichoke hearts (should be 120 calories-check label because brands differ)
*2 cups 1% cottage cheese
*4 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese (not low fat)
*1 cup packed baby spinach
*1 small yellow onion-chopped small
*1 tablespoon chopped garlic (or more if you want)
*Salt & pepper (go easy on salt because of cheese-you can always add extra later)
*Any additional seasonings you want-I used a few dashes of Tuscan seasoning.
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut peppers in half & remove all seeds and membranes. Bring large pot of water to boil & boil peppers for 5 minutes. Remove from heat but leave peppers in water for another 10 minutes. Drain peppers well & blot inside out with paper towels. Place peppers in a rimmed dished so they can be stuffed.
Sauté onion over medium heat in pan with nonstick spray until softened and translucent (about 3 minutes). Add spinach and cook until wilted.
Mix cooked veggies together with all rest of ingredients. Do not add the liquid from the artichokes. Just pull them out, chop them, then add to mixture but discard rest of liquid. Spoon mixture evenly into peppers. Bake for 20-30 minutes until heated throughout.
If you want to stuff peppers then bake the next day you should allow baking dish to sit out for 15-20 minutes before baking so they are not so cold. It also may take a little longer to heat them. These reheat quickly in microwave if you have leftovers.
1 stuffed pepper half: 172 calories & 19 grams protein
2 pepper halves: 344 calories & 38 grams protein.
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