Quarantine Cooking: Stuffed Anaheim Peppers

I had harvested some beautiful Anaheim peppers from our garden a few days ago and decided last night to finally cook and serve them. Usually I make chile rellenos, but didn't want to deal with frying. Google is your friend when it comes to trying to change up your rotation. I found a recipe for stuffing them with meat and cheese, like the bell peppers I used to cook in my starter marriage. I used to stuff the bell pepper with ground beef, rice, tomato sauce and cheese for that first husband and beans, rice tomato sauce and cheese for me, the vegetarian at the time. My present husband said early on, no, to stuffed bell peppers. The recipe I found for using the Anaheim peppers called for slicing them in half, removing the membrane and seeds and then blanching them in boiling water for just a minute. Next time I'll probably just skip that step as I like my peppers vibrantly green with a bit of crunch.

I had one Anaheim pepper that was really small and curled up and unsuitable for stuffing, and so I chopped it along with a small yellow onion. Waste not, want not.

The recipe called for using Cajun seasoning, but I had Creole seasoning. I wondered what is the difference? And here's what I found: Cajun seasoning relies on the use of many peppers, such as white and black pepper, bell peppers and cayenne peppers. This cuisine also incorporates paprika and garlic. ... Creole seasoning primarily relies on herbs like oregano, bay leaf, basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley and paprika. Okay! I could definitely taste all those herbs and supplemented the salt and herbs in my can of seasoning with Mexican chili powder, cumin, and chipotle sauce. I also put in a bit of pureed tomato with the sauteeing onion, pepper, ground turkey and seasoning.

There was a lot of liquid in my cast iron, and so I removed the turkey to prevent it from getting tough and cooked down the liquid and then put the meat back into the pan.

Time was running out, and so I didn't take photos of the blanched peppers I stuffed with the cooked meat and the grated Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. The hubs declared it good. He liked that the Anaheim had a bit of heat and spice. I did capture an image of the two small peppers left.

I had served the stuffed peppers with leftover refried beans and cilantro lime rice. Oh my gawd, where has rice cooked like this been all my Mexican-eating food life? 

This rice is gonna be a staple from now on and will be fantastic in my burritos.