Mini Jack O Lanterns (stuffed bell peppers)

For Halloween last year and this year, I made Mini Jack O Lanterns (stuffed bell peppers) to celebrate!

Last year, I was able to find red and orange bell peppers at a decent price, so my stuffed bell peppers really did look like mini pumpkins.  Unfortunately this year, the red and orange bell peppers were at a ridiculous price, so green mini pumpkins it is. 

The difference in bell pepepr color is not the only changes I made, I actually made a number of changes:
- I used ground turkey instead of ground beef because its healthier
- I used rice instead of bread crumbs, since rice is more filling (and cheaper too!)
- Instead of using a lot of hot sauce as the seasoning, I used garlic and herb seasoning instead.

I alloted myself around 1 hour to prepare the jack o lanterns and bake them, but turns out I needed closer to 2 hours!!  I was an hour late to our Halloween pot luck.
Buffer plenty of time to cut the jack o lantern faces on the bell peppers!


The ingredients I used is:
- 6 bell peppers
- 1/2 cup of cooked white rice
- 1 egg
- 1.25 pounds of ground turkey
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp italian seasoning or garlic and herb seasoning
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tomato, chopped.

- salt and pepper.
- 1 tsp of minced garlic

Wash and cut the tops off the bell pepeprs.  Discard the  the seeds but keep the lid/stem.  This is the top of the jack o lantern's head!
In a pan, brown the onions and minced garlic in a little bit of oil.  I've seen a lot of recipes omit this step, but if you do, you will end up with crunchy-raw-semi-steamed onions!
In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients (other than the bell peppers).  When evenly mixed, distribute the mixture into your 6 bell peppers, and bake the bell peppers (with their lids on) at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes.