Lunch: Smoked Sausage and Orzo Stuffed Peppers

Recipe by Hillshire Farm® Everyone gets their own personal dinner tucked into a delicious sweet pepper.

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Cinnamon

Health benefits of Smoked Sausage and Orzo Stuffed Peppers

Cinnamon is one of the best ingredients that someone with insulin sensitivity can eat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to be very effective at normalizing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone, which is thought to enhance the effects of insulin. It has also been suggested that Cinnamon prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes by slowing the gastric emptying rate - meaning that food digests slowly. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506060).

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (14 ounce) package Hillshire Farm® Smoked Sausage, cut into 1/4-inch-wide half moons
1 medium onion, 1/2-inch dice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 cups orzo pasta, cooked according to package directions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 3/4 cups marinara sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 bell peppers

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add smoked sausage, onion, garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for 6-9 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and smoked sausage is brown. Stir in white wine vinegar, cooked orzo, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup mozzarella; remove from heat and set aside.
Mix together the marinara sauce and cinnamon and stir 1/4 cup of the sauce into the skillet. Spoon remaining sauce into the bottom of a 9x9-inch baking dish.
Cut the tops off of the peppers, remove the seeds, stuff them with the orzo-smoked sausage mixture and place in baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake until heated through, 25 minutes.