Ingredient of the Week

Ingredient of the week: sweet bell peppers!

I used this ingredient in a variety of ways this week to keep it exciting and interesting. One use for this ingredient I won't blog about is in salads. Simply slice and throw 'em on top. Pretty tasty!

Here is how I used them in recipes though:

Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa

1 15.5oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

2c frozen corn, thawed & roasted

1 medium red sweet pepper, chopped

½c red onion, chopped

1 jalapeño, finely chopped with seeds and membranes removed
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 avocados, chopped

Cilantro


Dressing ingredients:
7 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cider vinegar
9 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp garlic salt
½ tbsp kosher salt

1. Place corn in a pan and drizzle with 1-2 tbsp olive oil.  Stir and then roast in oven at 450° for about 20min, or until some kernels are golden brown. 
2. Combine first six ingredients and mix well. (Use more or less of all ingredients for personal preference.)

3. Prepare dressing by whisking ingredients together; pour over salsa and stir until well mixed.

4. Add avocado and cilantro just before serving to preserve color and freshness.

(I kind of put together my own veggies for the salsa, but here is where I found the dressing recipe.)

{prior to adding the avocado and cilantro}

Tofu Stir Fry in Peanut Sauce

Firm tofu, cut into cubes

2 peppers of different colors, sliced 

Broccoli

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter

3 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp corn starch

1. Heat oil in wok or pan over medium-high heat. Add tofu and stir fry until golden brown.

2. In meantime, in a separate bowl, combine last 4 ingredients to make the peanut sauce.

3. Add veggies to wok/pan (including any others you would enjoy in the stir fry) and cook 4-5min, or until tender.

4. Finally, add peanut sauce and stir until well coated. In this step, be sure to turn the heat down and allow to cool slightly before adding the sauce or you will scorch it (like me - oops).


(I threw together my own ingredients for the actual stir-fry, but found a recipe for the peanut sauce here.)

{prior to adding peanut sauce}

{served over brown rice}

Barley Stuffed Sweet Peppers - this is one of my favorite vegetarian meals
(recipe source)

1c reduced-sodium chicken broth

1c sliced fresh mushrooms

2/3c quick cooking barley 

2 large red, yellow and/or green peppers

1 egg, beaten

¾c shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese

1 large tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped

½c shredded zucchini

1/3c soft bread crumbs

1 tbsp fresh basil or 1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp fresh rosemary or 1/8 tsp dried rosemary

1/8 tsp onion salt

1. In a medium saucepan, combine broth, mushrooms, and barley. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 12 to 15min, or until barley is tender. Drain thoroughly.

{I didn't have mushrooms, so I just threw in some broccoli}

2. Cut peppers in half lengthwise, remove seeds and membranes. If desired, precook peppers in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. (I've done this both with and without precooking the peppers and I can't tell any difference.)

3. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the egg, ½c of cheese, tomato, zucchini, bread crumbs, basil, rosemary and onion salt. Stir in the cooked barley mixture. 

 

{Prior to adding in barley mixture. I used Colby & Jack cheese because I didn't have mozzarella.}

{With barley mixture added in.}

4. Place peppers, cut side up, in a baking dish. Spoon barley mixture into the peppers.  Cover with aluminum foil.

5. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until mixture is heated through. Remove foil and sprinkle remaining cheese over the peppers. Return to oven and bake 2 minutes more. Carefully transfer peppers to a serving platter. Garnish with fresh rosemary and red chili peppers, if desired.

{I didn't add the extra cheese on top, but here is the finished product. Don't mind my old, very ugly baking dish. It gets the job done.}

So there are my recipes for the week, all using sweet peppers! Enjoy!

Tough Week

The past weekend and week has proven tough for me to follow my food rules.  It’s not usually a problem when I am home and making my own meals, but when I go out or if I’m with a group of people, it’s definitely more of a challenge.

I’ll recap Friday real quickly because it was fairly normal. We did have an Olympic themed party on Friday night – USA was the country of honor, of course. We all got decked out in our finest red, white, and blue, and cooked up an all-American meal. So here’s my day:

Breakfast: Banana and blueberry smoothie w/ milk and vanilla protein powder

Lunch: Honey whole wheat bagel from Einstein  Bros Bagels with honey nut cream cheese, corn on the cob and cantaloupe

Snack: Green grapes

Dinner: Cheeseburger with fixings, potato salad, baked beans, salad w/ Italian dressing, ½ corn on the cob, strawberry sorbet, and a glass of red wine

I know what you may be thinking, “I thought you were only going to eat junk food you made.” Well, I did make it. I bought an ice cream maker on clearance at Target for the sole purpose of making a berry sorbet I saw on the cover of Sunflower Market’s weekly magazine. Then I didn’t have all the stuff for the berry sorbet, but I did have strawberries so I made that instead. It is delicious, if I do say so myself.

But let’s move on to Saturday. This is where it fell apart. On Saturday, I knew I would be helping my brother move and then we were heading out to the reservoir to hang out and swim with some of our friends.  So I started my day with a fairly large homemade breakfast of eggs (1 whole egg plus an egg white), whole grain toast with blackberry jam, cantaloupe and skim milk.

I also made sure to bring a peach with me for a snack, but after that I was at the mercy of the foods available to me wherever I happened to be. After moving my brother, it was decided it would be quickest to order pizza before heading to the reservoir. I was at least in the company of other veggie lovers, so we ordered one all veggie pizza. I had 2 pieces for lunch before we headed out. At the lake, some of my friends brought a bag of Doritos, and I’m confident it was due to this self-imposed challenge that I didn’t eat a single one. Before, I definitely would have enjoyed a few.

At the lake I swam a little bit, which always makes me hungry, so when we got back I had a little snack. Unfortunately, all that was really available to me was the pizza, so I had another small piece. Then for dinner we went to Moe’s Barbeque. I’m sure you can see this is where it went downhill for the night. At Moe’s I got pulled pork, which came with corn bread and two sides. I chose macaroni & cheese and coleslaw. Honestly, I mostly ate the sides; I had a few bites of the pork, but Donnie finished the rest. I also had a Sunshine Wheat with my dinner, and a red velvet cupcake later that evening (we were celebrating my brother’s birthday after all). So, needless to say, not my best day.

The next morning started out better. We went to a local breakfast/lunch eatery in Colorado called Snooze. For breakfast I had an Italian version of eggs benedict, which included French artisan bread, some type of cheese, prosciutto, 2 poached eggs, balsamic vinaigrette, hollandaise (on the side), and arugula.  There were also hash browns on the side. And I had delicious coffee from Guatemala to drink. Yum!

After that, I kind of skipped lunch and had a bowl of cereal mid-afternoon. That definitely isn’t part of my food rules – skipping meals, that is. And for dinner I cooked up some more whole grain pasta with veggies so I could finish off my homemade basil pesto.

Here's my loot for the current week:

{bananas, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, onion, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, broccoli, corn on the cob, and a jalapeño for a salsa} 

Monday, I started to get back on track. I’ll do a quick recap because this is getting long and the day was pretty normal.

Breakfast: fruit, yogurt, granola

Lunch: Salad with black beans, onions, carrots, zucchini, corn, peas, tomatoes,  and honey mustard dressing; and a peach

Snack: Kettle corn

Dinner: Tofu stir-fry with bell peppers in a homemade peanut sauce on top of  brown rice

Tuesday was another challenging day. We had a Mexican themed potluck at lunch for an employee whose last day is tomorrow. All the foods I ate were homemade and real, whole foods, but not especially healthy. I’ll try to recap everything I ate, but I’m warning you it sounds like a lot. I almost always have a little bit of every food at potlucks. Then that night I went to the Rockies vs. Cardinals baseball game, so my dinner wasn’t too healthy either. There aren’t too many healthy options at ball parks, let me tell you. So, here it is:

Breakfast: Berries, yogurt, and granola

Snack: Green grapes

Lunch: Mexican potluck at work – taco casserole; rice; beans; black bean & corn salsa with corn chips; guacamole; spinach salad with Italian dressing; watermelon; pound cake   

Dinner: Part of Donnie’s “monster nachos” (corn chips, beans, shredded pork, jalapenos, and cheese sauce – nothing real about that last element sadly), a strawberry & banana kabob drizzled in chocolate, and a Blue Moon.

Wednesday I went to the second game in the series for Rockies vs. Cardinals, but I ate managed to eat much better over the course of the day. I even found a “Field of Greens” salad bar at Coors Stadium for my dinner.

Breakfast: I honestly can’t remember, but it was either yogurt, fruit & granola or cereal

Lunch: Left over tofu stir fry in peanut sauce and brown rice

Snack: Green grapes & kettle corn

Dinner: Salad w/ spring mix & spinach, mushrooms, sweet peppers, peas, garbanzo beans, cucumber, and red win vinaigrette. And I can’t go to a ball game without having a beer; this time it was a Coors Light.

Today was completely back to normal. Here was my day:

Breakfast: Multi-grain cheerios in skim milk with strawberries & blueberries

Snack: Gala apple & a single dark chocolate square

Lunch: Salad with zucchini, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and honey mustard dressing; ½ grilled cheese; milk

Snack: Kettle corn

Dinner: Barley stuffed sweet peppers

Whew. Sorry for the length. I’ll be back soon with my “ingredient of the week.” Any guesses?