One of the biggest hurdles in making healthy lifestyle changes is getting your significant other and family on board. As a parent of three kids, this often means I’m up against the palate of 4, 6 (and 1) year olds that would gladly survive on pizza and corndogs.
I’ve found that any time my kids can get involved in the cooking process, they appreciate the meal more. Of course, the meal has to be simple and fun to create. Not only does my four year old enjoy the prep of this (quick) meal, but the whole family enthusiastically welcomes this recipe in our regular rotation. There are so many ways to mix up this recipe using the basic concept of the bell pepper serving as your nacho “chip”.
We added goat cheese but get creative and try adding sour cream, pico, black olives…
Mini Bell Pepper "Nachos"
Ingredients
- 2 coconut oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 onion, minced
- 1 lb ground beef
Taco Seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/4 cup water
- 16 oz seeded mini bell peppers
- 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
- 5 sprigs cilantro, to garnish
- 1-2 oz goat cheese
Optional (other) garnish
- black beans
- black olives
- diced tomato
- avocado, cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F and line a large baking try with parchment
or aluminum foil. Light grease with coconut oil. - Add coconut oil to medium nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- Add onion, garlic and saute about 2 minutes.
- Arrange mini peppers cut-side up and close together. Place in oven for 8 minutes to pre-cook and then remove from oven.
- Fill each mini bell half with cooked ground beef mixture and top with
shredded cheese, jalapeno slices - Bake in oven for 8 minutes, until cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and top with goat cheese, cilantro, and any
other garnish (optional). Serve immediately.
Notes
Believe it or not, all of the ingredients for this recipe were purchased at Walmart. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive!
My four-year old has taken a recent interest in cooking and food prep. This is a great recipe for little helpers. Here she is removing the seeds from the halved peppers and “arranging them into a rainbow” on the sheet.
We opted to pre-cook our peppers in the oven for 8 minutes (step 4). If you prefer a more crunchy “nacho”, you may want to reduce or omit pre-cook time. 
Meat seasoned and cooked, nachos prepped and headed for the oven.
Hot out of the oven and ready to serve!
