So it ain’t the prettiest of meals, these leftover Stuffed Bell Peppers. But they’ll do in a pinch for lunch the next day. We make stuffed cabbage more frequently than the peppers, since we have extra cabbage more frequentlyin the fridge. But when there’s a sale on green bell peppers, we usually plan a stuffed pepper night. And the next day I’m rewarded with Leftovers for Lunch.

Lately, I’ve been on a ground turkey kick - previously we’d go with a mixture of 2 parts ground beef to 1 part ground pork. But I’ve found the ground turkey works just as well - you can also mix it with the pork to give it some tenderness, but it’s not really necessary. We add cooked rice and sauteed onions (cooked until they’re very soft) to make the meatball interior mixture less dry. Maybe add some bread crumbs, toss in an egg or two for binding power. Fill up the peppers, add tomatoes and tomato paste (or tomato paste diluted with water) plus chicken stock and throw it in a big pot. That’s pretty much it.

The next day, the stuffed peppers will sometimes taste better now that the flavors have had a longer chance to meld. Inevitably, you’ll have some “pepper” breakdown - they can get a little mushy and the meatball mixture tends to fall out of the pepper. That never bothered me, though. It becomes more of a tomato pepper meatball stew, which is fine with me for a quick lunch the next day.