Stuffed Mini Peppers

I have been seeing these colorful mini peppers quite frequently these days and couldn't resist buying them. Many times, I just use them as substitute for bell peppers but there was a recipe on the back of the bag for a stuffed pepper that sounded pretty tempting... I modified it from a purely cheese filling to include some chopped spinach. The white filling with specks of green contrasts really well with the colorful peppers (this time though since I blended everything it's a green filling, but tasty nevertheless).

Ingredients:
Assorted Mini Peppers - about 15 to 16
Onion - half of a small one, chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced (or use garlic powder)
Spinach - 1.5 cups, chopped
Cream cheese - 3 to 4 oz, softened
Cheddar Cheese - 2 tbsp
Mixed Italian herbs (dried) - half tsp
Dried Red Chilli Flakes - half tsp
Salt and Black Pepper - to taste
Bread Crumbs - 2 to 3 tbsp (optional)
Olive oil - 1 tsp and to drizzle

Method:
1) Wash and dry the peppers. Slice them in half (you can keep the stalks or remove them)

2) In a small saucepan, heat olive oil and add in chopped garlic, onion and red chilli flakes. When they soften a bit add the spinach and some salt (go easy on the salt). Saute until spinach has wilted and cooked down a bit.

3) Stir this into the softened cream cheese along with cheddar cheese and italian herbs - season with black pepper to taste
NOTE: (this time since I forgot to leave the cream cheese out I put that along with the spinach mixture and blended.. hence the green colored filling - I personally prefer leaving little green specks in a white filling, which didn't happen this time).

4) Lay them on a cookie sheet sprayed with oil and top each pepper with a bit of bread crumbs and drizzle lightly with olive oil (a few drops on each peppers is more than enough).

5) Bake in a 350 degree F (pre-heated oven) for 15-20 minutes....  Allow to cool a bit and enjoy warm. .