I (Tammy) have a confession. I’m obsessed with bell peppers. Sure, there are worst things you can be obsessed with (ahem, Lyssie’s obsessed with cabbage— that’s even more embarrassing!), but you try explaining to the cute Trader Joe’s check-out boy why you’ve got 8, 3-packs of tri-colored peppers and you just went through his line with the same items less than a week ago. 🙂 Yep, I snack on bell peppers, eat them with my lunch—and even cut them up and take them with me when I travel. AND I did this before we even started researching all of the benefits they have for your skin and for your health for our book The Nutrition Twins Veggie Cure. And we both love to cook with them too, as well as whip up simple recipes like our Turkey Stir Fry Fiesta and our easy-to-make Bell Pepper and Egg Salad Stuffed Celery. We also love to stuff peppers—have you tried our Skinny Cheesy Peppers? These Stuffed Baby Peppers are a delish spin on traditional stuffed peppers. Plus, at only 29 calories each, they’re great as an appetizer, side dish, and they’re perfect for weight loss since they’re satisfying, cheesy and indulgent, but super low in calories!
Plus, peppers rock when it comes to vitamin C, so they help to boost immunity and keep skin supple since vitamin C plays a role in collagen formation. We always notice when our clients start eating more veggies like peppers because their skin start to look really healthy and bright and clear. And if you pair peppers with a source of iron, like in our Turkey Fiesta Tacos or eat them with spinach, fish, chicken or meat, their vitamin C helps you to absorb the iron. Peppers also score when it comes to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients, and contain more than thirty different members of the carotenoid nutrient family which help to boost immunity, as well as fight cancer and aging. And the mono-unsaturated fat in the avocado in this dish helps to enhance the absorption of the carotenoids (woot, woot!)! So dive in to these peppers knowing you’re doin’ your body good! 🙂
Stuffed Baby Peppers
These stuffed baby peppers are super cheesy and are perfectly complemented by an arugula and avocado dipping sauce. Perfect as a side dish or an appetizer, and super easy to make!
Serving Size: 1 pepper
Makes 20 stuffed peppers
Ingredients
20 baby peppers
4 low fat mozzarella cheese sticks
1 avocado
1 cup arugula
1 clove garlic
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven at 425 degrees.
Cut a window in the side of the baby peppers, enough to fit the ingredients inside but not too large that it becomes an open faced pepper. Scoop out the seeds.
Cut the mozzarella cheese sticks in fifths and stick them inside the baby peppers. Then spread the peppers on a rectangular baking pan.
Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, until the edges have slightly browned, then remove to cool.
While the peppers are baking, place the avocado, arugula, garlic, salt, and pepper in the food processor and blend until smooth.
Serve the peppers with the sauce on the side or use a zip-lock bag to pipette the sauce in the pepper. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts (per 1 stuffed pepper)
Calories: 29
Carbohydrates: 3 g
Fat: 2 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 4 mg
Protein: 2 g
Sodium: 44 mg
Sugar: 1 g
Fiber: 1 g
13% RDA Vitamin A
- 20 baby peppers
- 4 low fat mozzarella cheese sticks
- 1 avocado
- 1 cup arugula
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- Preheat the oven at 425 degrees.
- Cut a window in the baby peppers, enough to fit the ingredients inside but not too large that it becomes an open faced pepper. Scoop out the seeds.
- Cut the mozzarella cheese sticks in fifths and stick them inside the baby peppers. Then spread the peppers on a rectangular baking pan.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, until the edges have slightly browned, then remove to cool.
- While the peppers are baking, place the avocado, arugula, garlic, salt, and pepper in the food processor and blend until smooth.
- Serve the peppers with the sauce on the side or use a zip-lock bag to pipette the sauce in the pepper. Enjoy!