Hot Sausage Stuffed Banana Peppers
It's been a long time since my last update! I apologize for that.
Since February, I've been in and out of a ketogenic diet. For a while, I tried adding in some gluten-free starches in an effort to help my gut. I never really reached a point where I'd say my stomach issues are fine. In fact, that is far from the truth. I continued to wake up most days with nausea and a sudden urge to use the restroom and still downed the Imodium like nobody's business. After being unsuccessful, I slipped a lot. I ate anything I wanted for a while. It was freeing in a way, but my stomach issues got worse and my bank account was hating me. I ate out for almost every meal. Something needed to change.
Fortunately, I've recommitted to the ketogenic way of eating (almost 2 months now!) and have been doing much better. I am not perfect, but I think this diet is the perfect one for letting my body heal after the years of damage.
After all is said and done, I'm here to post a new recipe! I wasn't actually going to post this to begin with because it is painfully simple, but my followers on social media have been asking for the recipe. An easy recipe is probably the best way to ease back into the blogosphere!
This recipe is a simple one that I have been making for years and one that I actually used to order frequently if it was on the menu. Naturally keto-friendly, my Hot Sausage Stuffed Banana Peppers are spicy, juicy and will leave you coming back for more. The best part is that these are so simple and the flavor that they give off is purely intoxicating -- A total Italian classic!
Ingredients
- 6 fresh banana peppers
- 1 pound of ground spicy Italian sausage
- 1/2 cup of Mozzarella Cheese
- 1/2 cup of tomato Sauce
- 2 tablespoons of water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare your peppers by cutting off the stems and slicing a slit down the middle of each. Inside will be small bunches of seeds. If you like a lot of heat, leave the seeds inside. If you prefer it a little more mild, remove the seeds.
- Divide the ground sausage into 6 separate, equal portions and stuff one portion into each pepper. It's okay if thee sausage is exposed and doesn't completely fill the contents of the pepper.
- In a baking dish, take 1/4 of the tomato sauce and spread it along the bottom of the baking dish. Add the water and mix it together with a spoon or whisk.
- Lay each pepper, sausage-side-up in the baking dish.
- Top each pepper with a small amount of the remaining tomato sauce
- Cover the baking dish with foil and pop it into the pre-heated oven for roughly 40 minutes.
- At 40 minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven and test the peppers firmness. If a fork easily pierces the pepper, they're ready for the next step.
- Top each pepper with a little bit of mozzarella cheese.
- Turn the oven to broil and put the peppers back in the oven, uncovered.
- Broil until the cheese is golden brown and remove from the oven.
- Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!