Tag Archives: recipe

Stuffed Peppers with Rice

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This is one of my favorite go to make ahead meal recipes.  It’s easy, versatile, and delicious. You can make with the ground meat blend of your choice.  I’ve made it as a vegetarian dish by adding sauteed chard and spinach instead of meat.  You can use this stuffing with other vegetables like tomatoes or zucchini instead of peppers.  It’s fantastic as a family meal or dinner for one.  Best of all the stuffing freezes well and can easily be packed up in serving containers of your choice for an easy mid-week, healthy meal.

Ingredients:
1-4 bell peppers
1 minced jalapeno                          IMG_3601
1 chopped banana pepper
1 chopped onion
Calabrian or cherry peppers in oil – to taste
2 cups cooked rice or 1 package ready rice
2 1/2 cups of tomato sauce, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
1 pound of ground beef, pork or turkey – any combo

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute onions and peppers in oil from the hot peppers 5 minutes – till light golden brown. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes.  Turn off heat and add cooked rice along with 1 cup tomato sauce to pan. Stir together and let mixture cool.

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Mix ground meat, beaten egg, and rice mixture and combine.  Add Parmesan cheese and stir till blended.

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IMG_3617Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise, discard seeds membranes and stem.   Cover the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish with sauce.  Fill each pepper half with 1/2 cup of the meat mixture and place in dish. Cover each pepper with sauce.  Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

 

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While peppers are baking portion out any remaining meat mixture into freezable containers.  I usually make batches of about 1 cup of meat mix (enough for 1 pepper). Pack, label and freeze.

 

 

 

Uncover baking dish and add small pieces of mozzarella to the top of each pepper half.

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Bake uncovered 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly brown. Serve and enjoy!

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Chicken Enchilada

Photo Aug 20, 7 28 57 PM (1)
Ingredients:
1 batch of tomatillo salsa
1 lb ground chicken
flour tortillas
cotija cheese
cilantro crema – sour cream blended with juice of 1/2 lime and a splash of heavy cream.  Add chopped cilantro and use to garnish

Step 1 – Saute ground chicken. Take off heat and mix in 1/2 cup of salsaPhoto Aug 20, 7 19 22 PM

Step 2 – Cover bottom of  baking dish with a few spoonfuls of salsa.  Take 1 -2  tablespoons of meat mixture place in center or wrap and roll.   Place roll seem side down into baking dish and cover with salsa and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes – till cheese is brown and enchilada is bubbling.Photo Aug 20, 7 19 50 PM

Step 3 Garnish with cilantro and crema to taste.Photo Aug 20, 7 28 57 PM

 

 

Tomatillo Salsa

Photo Aug 20, 5 57 29 PM

Ingredients:
3 Tomatillos
1 Jalapeno
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1 serranno chili pepper
1 red chili pepper
olive oil
bunch of cilantro
lime

Step 1 – toss vegetables with olive oil and roast in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes Photo Aug 20, 5 16 34 PM

Step 2 – Blend roasted vegetables with cilantro and juice from the lime in blender.

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Store salsa and use as dip for chips, add to tacos, taco salads, or enchiladas

Powerhouse Rainbow Chard Sauté

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Powerhouse your diet – add green leafy, yellow/orange, citrus and cruciferous items to our diet.

Why? Reduced risk of chronic disease, plus they are packed with nutrition to fuel our bodies and minds.  But the most important reason is they are easy to use, quick to cook, and oh so tasty.

Also, this is a great prep ahead and cook last minute dish.

You can switch these ingredients for so many variations, whatever is fresh and strikes your fancy at the farmers market or CSA basket. Try substituting chard for beet greens, spinach, chicory, leaf lettuce, watercress, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, kale, or arugula and you’ll still get that same great powerhouse punch.

Check out these other powerhouse foods studied for their nutrient density by the CDC.

Yield: 3 servings

Ingredients:
Rainbow chard, 1 bunch, chopped (~5 cups)
Onion, ½ large, chopped
Green garlic, 2 stalks, sliced in rounds
Baby Bella mushrooms, 2 cups
Salt and Pepper to taste (or ¼ teaspoon each)
Coconut oil, 1 teaspoon
Optional: Orange peel (can be added during sautéing for brightness)

Step 1: Prepare the chard by washing, spinning damp dry, and roughly chopping. Discard the toughest part of the stem; the rest softens a bit in cooking, but some prefer to remove the stem entirely.

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Step 2: Chop onion half, slice mushrooms, and slice green garlic stalks into rounds. (We include the green tops of the stalks – yummy.) If you are preparing more items, you could hold ingredients at this step until a few minutes before eating for best flavor.

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Step 3: Sauté onion, garlic, and mushroom in oil for 5 minutes to soften.

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Step 4: Pile on the chopped chard and sauté, watching and turning the chard periodically and cooking until just wilted down and tender – you want to give this a quick cook so that you retain as much nutrition and flavor as possible.

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Step 5: Salt and pepper to taste, toss thoroughly. Eat and enjoy.

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Serving suggestion – this makes a great breakfast or brunch dish with a poached or fried egg on top.

Nutrition Analysis
Recipe yields 3 servings. Per serving, using ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper: 51 calories, 8 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams dietary fiber, 2 grams total fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 3 grams protein, 503 milligrams potassium, 329 milligrams sodium, 189 micrograms vitamin A.

Veggie Chicken Foil Packets with Savory Broth

Foil packets are delicious, easy, plan ahead, throw on BBQ or in oven!

Flavor combinations are limitless – you pick what’s fresh and how you want your broth flavored. This variation is OKRAlicious! This recipe serves 4 but is easy to size up or down.

Chicken packet
Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup okra, sliced into rounds
1 cup yellow and red peppers, chopped
1 cup green beans, chopped
2 carrots, cut length-wise in strips
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
4 tbsp Italian dressing
4 tbsp white wine
Minced chives
Fresh or dried herb – fresh is better if you have it
Salt and pepper to taste
Aluminum foil, 4 sheets – extra heavy is preferred

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375.
Chop vegetables and prepare foil by spraying or brushing with oil.
Step 1: Ingredients
Step 2: Make the vegetable bed by adding 1/4 cup each of green beans, onions, and carrots to sprayed foil sheet. Sprinkle with chives.
Step 2
Step 3: Salt and pepper chicken and layer on top of vegetable bed. Top chicken with 1/4 cup mushrooms, peppers and okra. Sprinkle any additional fresh herbs or seasoning you enjoy now, and some more salt and pepper to top layer of veggies.
Step 3
Step 4: Drizzle each packet with 1 tablespoon Italian dressing (or whatever flavor combination you prefer, such as lemon or lime juice).
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Step 5: Crimp edges together to make the foil packets.Step 5
Step 6: Place packets on cooking sheet and put on center rack of preheated 375F oven.  Alternatively throw the packets on the BBQ.
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Step 7: Unwrap hot packets carefully and serve in a bowl being careful to pour all the delicious broth from the packets into your bowl – yum. Eat and enjoy!
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