Stuffed Red Peppers

We had too many colored bell peppers so I searched around for something new to do with them. I found some recipes that stuffed them like green bell peppers (marinara, meat, cheese...) but I wanted something different so as usual, I mashed some ideas together. This is what I ended up with.  It's hard to write down a recipe that is not really measured, so much depends on the size of the peppers...but I have done my best with the ballpark amounts.

Slice 2 peppers (any color, I would just never use green) from stem to bottom and remove seeds
Place peppers face up in 1 cm of water in a covered microwave/oven safe dish, cook for five minutes.

Sauté
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 Tb unsalted butter
1 Tb olive oil
1 t garlic, minced
until softened, then add
1/2 c cooked pumpkin, cubed or mashed ( I think any squash would work)
(if you don't have cooked, just steam some before adding to the pan)
salt and pepper to your taste and remove from heat.
Mix in about 1/2 c of cottage cheese
Next, scoop this squash mixture into the steamed peppers,
leaving enough room to add an egg later (its more space than you'd think!)
Sprinkle each pepper with thyme.

Bake at 400 degrees for ten minutes.
Remove the peppers from the oven to add an egg into each pepper
then sprinkle them with grated parmesan.
Place them back in the oven for 10-15 minutes more, until the egg is done to your preference.

We ate them with fresh sourdough, toasted, and fresh fruit. I have to admit, it almost seemed like a breakfast so maybe they would be good prepared the night before to the add-the-egg point, then just bake them with the egg in the morning. I am sure they would need more time because each pepper would be cold.


*one of my peppers wouldn't lay flat so some egg spilled out. Next time I am going to prop them together better to prevent that.