Happy Tasty Tuesday Bella Diva
To kick of the first month of 2020, every Tuesday I am posting or blogging about a Diva-licious recipe or snack idea so you do not get bored or burnt out trying to be so strict with your food choices. I KNOW the mindset your are in right now. Remember…lifestyle not a quick fix!!!! Remember this time last year and the “goals” you were trying to accomplish??
Progress = Happiness
Keep that in mind as you power through each day this year. There are 2 types of motivation, one that pushes you and one that pulls you. You need to find the one the pulls you into your goals, because no one likes to be pushed. Think about it…..
Stuffed Pepper Tips
Lets dive into today’s recipe or I should say endless recipes combos. Stuffed peppers are so easy and can please anyone. That’s if you like peppers, lol. You can use green, red, yellow, orange. I am not a fan of green peppers, so my go to are the red and sweet yellow.
The traditional stuffed pepper has beef and rice and cheese. Yum!!!! Except, they can be high calorie bombs. The recipes below are lower calories and one is low carb and the other, for my vegan divas. A sneaky trick is replacing the rice with cauliflower rice and using a very lean ground beef (94%) or lean ground turkey. Spices, onions, garlic and a cheese of choice truly bring your pepper to life.
If you are looking to go meat free a night, there is a recipe below. However other stuffing options are: beans, quinoa, tofu, avocado, tomatoes. To name a few. GET CREATIVE!!!
PS. Some recipes tell you to de-seed and stuff your peppers raw, then bake. I prefer to pre bake my sliced and de-seeded peppers first for 10 minutes on 300′. Remove. Cool and stuff. You see that in my butternut squash recipe below.
Diva-licious recipe
Butternut, Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers
For a lower carb option dinner, which I like to rotate in to keep the fit diva metabolism burning, I used butternut squash as the rice filler. Also you can use a cheese of choice as long as you keep your portions in check. Lastly, you can use any pepper, I just love the sweet red and yellow, but get creative!
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 medium firm peppers (2 red, 2 yellow) cut off and save tops
- cut out membranes and de-seed
- 1 lbs lean ground turkey or beef
- 1 bag of butternut squash cubed or (1 med squash)
- 1 can no salt diced tomatoes
- 1 can tomato paste
- 4 oz crumbled goat cheese
- *chopped onion & jalapeño* optional
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1-2 tsp dried oregano & basil
- extra sea salt to make up taste for tomatoes & pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Serves 4 Preheat oven 350’ * I bake the peppers first in this recipe to avoid overcooking meat.
First saute or bake butternut squash until soft (you will need to mashup the squash like mashed potatoes as a layer in the pepper Make extra for a side later in week.
Now: Preheat oven to 350’ Place empty peppers in sprayed 8×8 baker and then spray peppers with olive oil and bake 10-15 minutes until just soft. Remove peppers and leave the oven heating. Meanwhile, spray or add 1tsp olive to sauté pan and start cooking ground meat of choice & onions on medium for 5-6. Then,add a can of diced tomatoes and tomato paste to the ground meat and mix well. Add garlic and rest of spices. Simmer for 10 minutes on med-low until meat is cooked. Layer in your pre heated pepper: Spoonful meat, spoonful mashed squash, sprinkle goat cheese. Repeat one more time. Sprinkle top with extra spices. Place peppers back in the oven and bake for another 5-7 minutes.
Be sure to slice your pepper open before eating
Diva-licious Recipe
Meatless Stuffed Peppers
We are going to use Quinoa as our main filler because it is a whole food and contains some protein that we will miss without the meat. If you want to go 100% Vegan take out the cheese and use nutritional yeast.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 4 large peppers of your choice, cut tops off and remove seeds
- 1 onion chopped
- 8 oz chopped portabella mushrooms
- 1 28 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 12 oz of salsa (mild or spicy)
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry
- 1 tsp: dried oregano, basil, parsley & fresh basil for the top
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or goat or vegan cheese of choice
DIRECTIONS:
Bring quinoa and water to boil, reduce and simmer 10-15 min (until water is absorbed)
In a large skillet, saute: onion, mushrooms and some juice from canned tomatoes for 5 minutes. Then add: tomatoes, garlic & salsa. Cook 10 min over medium. Add spices and cook 4-5 min more. Drain veggie mix, reserving the liquid. Fold quinoa into veggie mix. Place peppers in a sprayed 8×8 baking dish and fill 1/2 of pepper with mix add some cheese then fill to top with mix and then sprinkle with cheese. Pour liquid into remaining tomato-quinoa mix and pour around peppers. Bake, lightly covered with foil for 40-45 minutes.
Happy Stuffing
Hopefully this oldie but goodie sparked some new ideas for a filling healthy dinner that can please everyone’s taste buds.
PS…If you would like to join one of my Diva-licious cooking classes, my 2020 kick off still has 3 spots left!! Theme: Back to basics, meal prepping and small bites.
1/24/2020 Friday 6:30-8:30
More info:
Ciao,
