Stuffed peppers!

For me, stuffed peppers are one of the ultimate comfort foods. Hearty, warm, and rarely found in restaurants, this classic is perfect for a cold winter night. Or if you’re in Los Angeles, maybe a slightly cooler than usual night.

At any rate, classic stuffed peppers usually involve a mixture of ground beef and white rice.  Not so diet-friendly, but that’s easy to solve. White rice is dumb. You heard me - stop eating dumb white rice.  It has no flavor and virtually no nutritional value.  If you absolutely HAVE to have rice (e.g. if you’re eating a spicy curry), make it brown rice.  But in the case of stuffed peppers, why do we even need rice?  It doesn’t add flavor, just filler. Let’s fill our bellies with delicious nutrients, not boring starch.  In my version, I promise that you won’t even miss the rice.



Low Carb Cheesy Stuffed Peppers

2 large red bell peppers (you can use green, but I like the sweetness of red peppers better)
olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
½ green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1.25 lb ground turkey
½ tsp grill seasoning (I like Montreal steak seasoning)
½ jar tomato pasta sauce (Classico Spicy Red Pepper)
1 ½ cups low fat Mexican blend shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  Slice red peppers in half lengthwise to create 4 pepper boats.  Place pepper halves into a foil lined casserole dish. Bake in oven for 7 minutes, and remove.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add a swirl of olive oil to the pan.  Once the pan and oil are hot, add the chopped green pepper, onion, celery and garlic. Once onions begin to get soft, remove this mixture from the pan.  Place pan back on heat and add a little bit more olive oil.  Add ground turkey to the hot pan, and season with grill seasoning.  Cook, stirring often, until meat is well browned. If there is any excess fat in the pan, drain off of the meat.  Add onions and peppers mix back to the meat. Stir in tomato sauce and simmer on low until sauce and mixture have thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of shredded cheese.

Fill pepper boats with the meat/cheese/veggie mixture and bake for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, sprinkle remaining ½ cup of cheese onto peppers and bake for 5 more minutes.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving, and enjoy!

Chicken Pizza!

I am a sucker for baked chicken dishes. It's a great way to get your boneless, skinless breasts nice and moist with little or no fat. I've experimented with the stuffed, smothered, and saucy, but this is one of my favorites. Also, it's so easy that you will Freak Out. Big domestic nerd win.

This recipe was inspired by the South Beach Pizza from What Geeks Eat. While I'm not a strict diet person, there are a lot of great things about the South Beach diet, and I utilize a lot of SB-recommended recipes to keep us on the low-carb track.



Chicken Pizza
I'm not using measurements since this is so easy, you don't need to measure anything. I promise.

Boneless, skinless Chicken breasts (if you can find the thin-cut ones, great, otherwise slice and pound them thin)
tomato sauce
Oregano
Basil
Garlic powder
crushed red pepper (optional)
olive oil
turkey Italian sausage, casings removed
green pepper
onion
2% mozzarella cheese shredded

Heat oven to 350. In a non-stick skillet with a little bit of olive oil, cook the Italian sausage, crumbling with a spatula as you go. Thinly slice the green pepper and onion. Remove sausage from pan when fully cooked. In a small bowl, mix plain tomato sauce with a healthy sprinkle of basil, oregano, garlic powder and crushed red pepper. (Alternately, you can use pre-made "pizza sauce" but this gives you more control over the flavor.)




Spread the chicken breasts over the bottom of a pizza pan or other baking sheet with sides. Spoon a layer of pizza sauce over the chicken. Arrange the sliced peppers, onions, and crumbled sausage over the sauce. Top with a generous layer of mozzarella cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes until browned and bubbly. Enjoy!

Just grill it

A big part of going low-carb for me was adding more veggies to our diet. I replaced a lot of starchy side dishes with fresh vegetables. Along the way, I learned that there are some really easy ways to cook delicious vegetables. Now, I grew up eating lots of frozen, microwave-nuked vegs, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I only learned to use a steamer last year. But I'll tell ya what - it's so easy. Cooking seasonal vegs in different preparations is an easy way to keep your dinners fresh and your grocery bills low.



One of my favorite ways to cook veggies is on my grill pan. Of course, you can use a "real" grill, but we apartment dwellers don't have that luxury. Most veggies do fine with a quick toss in some oil, salt and pepper. Zucchini is fabulous tossed with some Italian dressing first. But the best part is seeing your work - those lovely little grill lines!

Next time you're thinking about warming up some canned corn or frozen green beans, think twice and remember that it's just as quick and easy to eat fresh veggies - and so much more delicious!

the BEST (low carb) side dish EVER

This dish is a revelation for low-carbers. It's so creamy and satisfying and Good for you! I've always had a thing for cauliflower, but this takes the veggie to a new level. Substitute this for carby side dishes like mashed potatoes and rice. You can even bake it with cheese on top if you want more richness. You can puree as much or as little as you like, but I prefer to really food-process the heck out of it.

So without further ado...



Cauliflower Puree

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into small florets
1 tablespoon of butter
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
1 teaspoon of parmesan cheese (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Steam the chopped cauliflower for 15 minutes on the stovetop. Add steamed cauliflower to food processor with butter and sour cream. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may want to do this in batches. Pulse until thick and creamy. Stir in cheese, salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!


*photo copyright Sassyradish

kitteh approved.

someone likes the new seat cushions.

Healthy. Spicy. Fresh.

My father is a bit of a picky eater. He’s a very old school, meat-and-potatoes kinda guy. He often rejects food before even tasting it, especially if it’s healthy. So when he visited us last year, I thought it would be fun to cook him one of our favorite meals - something I knew he would like, but would never try on his own. The happy ending to this story is that my Jalapeno turkey burgers are now on constant rotation at my parents’ house. Domesticated nerd win.

These burgers have evolved over time, and I have no idea where I got the original recipe from, but here’s my version.





Jalepeno Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:
1 large beaten egg
1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 to 3 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped with most of the seeds removed
1 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 pound ground turkey
1 fresh Anaheim pepper, seeded and cut into rings
1 small onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings
ground black pepper
Sliced pepper jack cheese (or cheese of your choice)
Turkey Bacon (optional), lettuce leaves, and sliced tomato for on top
4 whole wheat hamburger buns

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl stir together egg, bread crumbs,jalapeno peppers, and steak seasoning. Add ground turkey and mix well. Shape meat into four 3/4-inch-thick patties. Generously sprinkle each side of the patty with ground black pepper.
2. Grill patties on a Foreman Grill for about 7 minutes, until firm and browned on each side.
3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan or skillet sprayed with cooking spray, cook the Anaheim pepper and onion about 10 minutes or until onion is tender. Serve burgers on lettuce-lined buns. In another skilled cook the Turkey Bacon (if desired). Top burgers with cheese, pepper-onion mixture, bacon, lettuce and tomato. Makes 4 servings.

I like to serve these with a side of cottage cheese. It’s nice to have something mild and creamy to balance the spicy burgers.

a quick weekend project.

Let me start by saying that I am not a seamstress. I know how to sew in the most basic sense. But I’ve found that the basic elements of sewing can produce a lot of projects. They may not be gowns or suits, but there’s a lot of easy home décor projects that you don’t even need a pattern for. My favorite sewing projects are the simple ones: a little measuring, a little pinning, and away we go.

With that in mind, last weekend I jumped into a quick little sewing project. I love my dining room set, but the chairs are very hard wood, and not so comfy on the tush. Luckily, I had some fun fabric on hand just begging for a new life. I picked up some foam and ribbon at Joann, and was off to the races.



Chair cushions and throw pillows are just two of the easy ways to add a quick facelift to your home. The best part is that you can totally customize these projects - the exact colors and sizes you want, instead of whatever you find at the store. Domestic win.