7 Ricotta & Sausage Stuffed Bell Peppers

I've been killing time today waiting for the snowstorm to pass, looking online for some nice and snug modern duvet covers, and boy are there great selections out there.  I'd like to get myself a new one for our guest room soon, and I see so many I like!  Hard to choose.

Anyway, I was thinking about what to do for dinner last night.  I have all these wonderful organic veggies, plus some others that need to be consumed soon.  Initially I was just going to do baked potatoes with ham, cheese and broccoli (simple, but delicious) but when I saw those beautiful bell peppers, I knew I should do something with those as well.  Stuffed peppers!

You'll need:

5-6 bell peppers
4 Italian-style chicken sausages, cubed (I used Aidell's)
couple handfuls fresh spinach, roughly chopped (about 3 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 tbs Italian herbs
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Begin by neatly trimming the tops off the bell peppers, and set aside.  You may also need to slightly trim the bottoms of the peppers so that they can stand on their own.  Remove the seeds and pull out the white veins.

In a mixing bowl combine eggs, ricotta, herbs, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Mix well and set aside.

In a pan over medium-high heat, sautee in a little olive oil the onion and sausage until the onion is translucent and sausage slightly browned, then add the spinach (add a little salt and pepper) and cook until wilted.  Remove from heat and add one spoonful from the pan into the mixing bowl, and stir immediately (we are tempering the ricotta/egg mixture so that the eggs don't scramble.)  Continue spoon-by-spoon for about half the pan, and then add the rest and mix well.

Spoon the cheese mixture evenly into the hollowed bell peppers, and place onto a nonstick baking sheet.  I initially thought to make three peppers, but I had enough for 5 (and probably 6 if I hadn't filled them all the way to the top) so I made extra.

Place the baking sheet  into your 400 degree oven.  This picture shows them with the top on, but I think next time I'll leave them off so that the cheese gets nice and bubbly on the tops.  Try putting the tops next to each pepper in the oven, and just monitor them.

After about 30-40 minutes in the oven.

Delicious!  Creamy and filling at the same time.  I served this with a side of mashed potatoes that I made from the 3 I got in my basket the other day, as well as some roasted acorn squash (also from the basket.)  My husband walked around the kitchen while I was making them looking nervous and scared (he really doesn't like peppers) but he just ate the filling, and E ended up eating everything, including the pepper.  This was really simple to make, and so good, healthy, and gluten-free!