Lasagna Stuffed Peppers

I’m back with another no wheat meal – Lasagna stuffed peppers. I am not usually a fan of the traditional sutffed peppers, the ones with rice and ground beef. They seem kind of boring and bland to me. I saw a version of these on Rao’s social media (products from their famous New York restaurant). These looked a little more like my taste, so I gave them a try with a few changes. The original was made with ground turkey and didn’t put sauce the stuffing mix. I changed up to Italian sausage and mixed in more cheese and some sauce. Here’s the list – makes 4 peppers:

2 Large Red, yellow or Green peppers – totally your choice
1/2 cup marinara sauce plus more for serving
1/2 lb Italian saucage (hot or mild your choice)
2-3 tbs. ricotta cheese
2 cups total of a mix of cheeses of your choice – I used 3/4 cup of mozzarella and 1/4 parmesean in the filling, but use what you like. Save 1 cup mozarell or provolone slices for the top of your peppers.
1/3 cup thinly sliced zucchini
Seasoning: Olive Oil, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, italian seasoning, crushed red peppe flakes

Start by browning your sausage in a frying pan, use a little olive oil if you need to get it started. Cook over medium heat until it’s nicely browned and cooked through. While that’s working, cut your peppers in half through the stem and clean out the seeds and white membranes. Once your sausage is cooked, add it to a bowl and mix in about 1/2 cup of marinara sauce, the ricotta, other cheeses (save some for the tops) season up with salt, pepper, garlic, more Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper (optional). Now you are ready for assembly.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and place your peppers in a baking dish, sprayed with some cooking spray or olive oil. I lined mine with a piece of foil and some parchment too, so cleanup was easier. Layer some of the zucchini slices in the bottom and around the sides of the peppers. Next, add as much of the filling that will fit without breaking the sides of the ppeppers down. Top with the remaining cheese – here I used a slice of provolone and sprinked on some mozzarrella. Bake covered at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 10 minutes more. While the peppers are cooking, heat up the remaining marinara sauce. To serve, place some marinara sacue in the bottom of a pasta bowl, add the pepper and top with more parmesean or mozzarrella cheese. Garlic bread would be awesome with thiese, but I skipped it to stay wheat free. These are great served with an Italian side salad too. Enjoy!