Turkey Sausage and Rice Stuffed Green Peppers

I decided to practice LENT with Matthew this year. It's not something I have ever practiced but when Matt's mother gave him and myself a LENT folder, I thought why not?! I decided to give up beef, pork, and soft drinks. The first two are hard, I love bacon as I've mentioned before. Giving up soft drinks isn't too hard, I only crave them when I'm at the movies with a buttery popcorn. I only want what I can't have. I felt like I didn't cook with beef and pork frequently at home, but I feel like I have had to be more creative with recipes. I was at Meijer on Sunday and caught the Jennie-O turkey products on sale for 20% off. I stocked up on hot turkey sausages, ground turkey, and turley cutlets. There was a recipe I'd found in one of my magazines for sausage stuffed peppers, so I thought I'd re-vamp the recipe using the hot turkey sausages I had found.

Turkey Sausage and Rice Stuffed Green Peppers (2 servings)

2 green peppers

1 cup cooked brown rice

2 cups marinara sauce

1 TB oregano

½ - 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 hot turkey sausages (uncooked)

Optional add-ins: mushrooms and extra green pepper dices.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the sausage from the casing, brown in a skillet and break up into smaller pieces. When the sausage is cooked, add the oregano and marinara sauce and reduce heat to low. Halve the green peppers and remove the seeds and ribs. Place the peppers in a roasting pan or on a cookie sheet face up and lightly spray with extra virgin olive oil. Mix in the rice and any add-ins at this time to the sausage mixture and take the skillet off the heat. Add the cheese. Fill each pepper half with the mixture and top with more cheese. Cover with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 30-60 minutes; depending on how done you want your green peppers. Serve with extra marinara sauce and a mixed salad.