Rice-less Stuffed Peppers

Given that stuffed peppers are one of my favorite meals (and relatively healthy), I decided to make them more Paleo-friendly by coming up with a recipe that omits the rice. While I had initially considered replacing the rice with cauliflower rice, I went a different route and added more ingredients instead. The bacon is a great accent to the turkey and the mushrooms and onion serve as fillers in lieu of rice. In the end, this recipe turned out to be very flavorful … and filling.

5 or 6 large bell peppers (any color)

1 medium onion, diced

15 slices bacon, sliced in 1/2-inch pieces

8-10 medium mushrooms, diced

1 lb. ground turkey or ground beef

1 - 14.5-oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 - 10.75-oz can condensed tomato soup

1 Tbsp. dried basil

Preheat oven to 350°. Remove tops of peppers and clean out seeds. Boil in a Dutch oven for 5 minutes. Set in cold water to cool, then drain. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, sauté the bacon and onion until the onions are tender. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Set aside. In another pan, cook the ground turkey until no longer pink. Stir in the bacon, onion and mushrooms. In a small bowl, combine tomato soup and basil. Mix 1/3 of the mixture into the meat mixture. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and place the peppers inside. Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture. In another bowl, combine the diced tomatoes and remaining soup mixture. Pour over the tops of the peppers. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.