1cupshredded Monterey Jack cheese(or any other shredding cheese)
Instructions
Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds and membranes from inside.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish, or a baking dish large enough to hold all of the peppers snugly, with nonstick spray, or lightly oil the dish.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey, turkey sausage, and onion, and stir occasionally for about 8 minutes, until the meat is browned and crumbly (break it up with a spoon as you go). Drain the turkey mixture in a colander and return the meat to the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and rice and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3 minutes, until everything is very well combined. Stir in 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, parsley, basil, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Stuff the mixture into the 6 peppers, dividing it evenly and packing them full but not too tightly. Place the stuffed peppers upright into the prepared baking pan (see intro for tips on keeping peppers upright). Spoon the remaining 1/2 cup tomato sauce evenly over the filling, and sprinkle the tops evenly with the shredded cheese.
Cover the peppers loosely with aluminum foil. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes longer, or until the peppers are tender and the cheese is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving on a platter or individual plates.
Notes
I like using ground turkey that is labeled 85/15%. This means it has more dark meat than lean ground turkey, which is 97% fat-free. It is a bit more juicy and flavorful, but you can use whichever version appeals to you.There are three simple ways to keep your peppers upright as they bake:
Choose a baking pan that is just large enough to hold all 6 of the peppers snugly so that they hold each other upright with no room to tip (that’s what I did).
Carefully slice a tiny bit off the bottom of the pepper so that there is a flat bottom. Make sure not to cut through the bottom of the pepper itself; you are just trying to trim off the rounded nubs at the base of the pepper.
Nestle the peppers into foil. Pull off a square of foil, crunch it up around the base of the pepper, and squish the bottom so that the foil is flat on the bottom and the pepper can rest in its foil nest.