Turkey, Bacon, Ranch Stuffed Peppers

I have been wanting to try my hand at making stuffed peppers for a while now.  Last summer I went as far as buying the peppers but then ended up slicing them up and eating them with hummus.  This year I finally did it.  When looking at stuffed pepper recipes most of them use ground beef, tomato sauce, and rice.  This all sounded too heavy for a summer dish, so I decided to go a different route.  I stuffed my peppers full of ground turkey, bacon, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and some ranch dressing.  The results were even better than I expected.

Turkey, Bacon, Ranch Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds ground turkey
• 6 bell peppers (you can use any color)
• 1 pound bacon
• sliced provolone cheese
• 1 cup ranch dressing
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup diced onion

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350. Bring a large pot of water (make sure its salted) to a boil. In the mean time. Slice the tops off the peppers and remove all the seed and membranes.  This should leave them looking like cups.  Toss the peppers into the boiling water and cook until they have softened slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove them from the water and let them cool.

2) In a large skillet, cook the bacon.  I like to use kitchen shears and cut my bacon into 1 inch sections before I cook it, but you can crumble it after as well.  When the bacon is done cooking strain it onto a paper towel and let it cool.

3) Discard the bacon grease and begin cooking your turkey in the skillet. Add salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until the turkey is no longer pink. Drain the turkey and set aside.

4) Put the diced onions in the skillet and cook until translucent.  Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute.

5) Add turkey and bacon to the skillet with the onions and tomatoes.  Add the ranch dressing and cook for another 2 minutes.

6) Arrange peppers upright in a rectangular backing dish.  Place 1/4 of a slice of provolone cheese in the bottom of each pepper.  Put a heaping spoonful of the turkey mixture in the pepper and top with another 1/4 of a slice of cheese.  Fill the rest of the pepper with the turkey mixture and top with 1/2 a slice of cheese.

7) Bake for about 20 minutes or until peppers are tender and cheese is melted.