Trying recipes I found on Pinterest | 1. Stuffed Pumpkin Peppers

Quite recently, as you'll have noticed, I haven't put up any blog posts. Life has been flying ahead and nothing has made me want to put fingers to the keys and tap out a post. In an effort to blog more and have more content to share, I've decided to start up a little post every week (hopefully) dedicated to trying recipes I track down from Pinterest. These posts are inspired by the lovely Kat Bouska from MamaKatTV with her weekly video trying drinks she spots on Pinterest. If you haven't already seen any of these videos, then get over there and have a watch. It's everything you wish you could be doing on a Friday night.

Anywho back to why we're here... As it's the month of October, I'm obviously obsessed with Halloween and all things pumpkin. This month I want to try out as many pumpkin-themed recipes as I can, starting with today's! This doesn't actually contain pumpkin, but they look so darn cute, they might as well be pumpkins.

Today's recipe is shredded chicken and rice stuffed peppers, with a Halloween twist! I traced this recipe back to EverydayJenny.com. As with all things you see on Pinterest they usually look a lot better than how they turn out, and that is exactly what has happened with my little beauties. I didn't even get a picture before they went in the oven as I was so confident they look great when they came out. However, I left the oven a little too high and didn't check them. Can we say it adds to their creepy Halloween vibes??

So if you still want to make these little cutie pies, read on...

For these stuffed peppers you'll need:
- 4 (preferably) orange peppers
- 2 chicken breasts (although I used chicken thighs)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 can diced tomatoes (I added a few spoons of salsa as well)
- 2 cups of rice, I used brown but you can use white (I added some sweetcorn and beans too)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

To make your spiced shredded chicken add it to the bottom of a slow cooker adding your spices and your tin of tomatoes. Give it all a mix and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours. When it is cooked, shred the chicken and allow it to remain in sauce.

To make your peppers, bring a large pot of water to boil.  While you are waiting for the water to boil, wash your peppers, carve out the top, being careful not to break the pepper, and then empty out all the insides including all the white parts. 

Here is where you will carve out your little pumpkin face! Get creative! When you've created your pumpkin face and the water is boiling, put the peppers and tops in and allow to cook for about 5 minutes until peppers are tender. Putting the tops in is important as I found as the colours and size of the peppers change so you have to cook the tops too... even if you won't eat them!

Remove from water and set them on some kitchen roll.  Mix the cooked rice, shredded chicken and any other extras you want to add like beans or sweetcorn. Fill each pepper with the mixture and top with extra cheese. I did a sort of a layered effect, adding a few scoops of the mixture, then cheese and repeat.


Replace the pepper top back on top. Bake at 180 degrees for around 10-20 minutes until cheese is melted and pepper is done to desired tenderness.  Make sure to watch the peppers to make sure they don't crisp up like mine! 

Jenny also suggests that if you want to heat it later that once the peppers are stuffed you can wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate. When you're ready to cook, preheat oven to around 180, remove plastic wrap and bake for 40minutes-1hr.

Overall I thought this was a lot of work for not much food but they were pretty tasty. Around this time of year, they are perfect to make for kids or if you're having a Halloween-themed dinner party. My tips for this recipe are; make sure to season your chicken well and don't put too much rice in as it will dilute the flavour of your chicken.

Have you tried these before? What did you think??

Do you have any recommendations for recipes to try next?