Stuffed Peppers with Heirloom Tomato Sauce

Stuffed peppers are one of my favorite things, the small problem is I forgot all about them! Its been years since I've last made them - but after making them this last time I will NOT let that happen again. They are so easy and a complete meal in one! Lots of veggies, some protein and a little cheese - yum! You can use whatever colored pepper you'd like for this recipe. I used green because they were huge, but feel free to mix it up.

Stuffed Peppers

The Stuff:
2 large peppers or 4 small ones
1 pound of lean pork
2 zucchinis
2 summer squash
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 small onion
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 recipe of heirloom tomato sauce (see below)
1 egg
splash of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder (cut back if you don't like heat)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 thick slices of mozzarella cheese

The How To:

Preheat oven to 350

Heirloom Tomato sauce:
1 cup of ripe heirloom tomatoes
1/8 cup olive oil
Place ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until tomatoes have broken down and formed a sauce

Stuffed Peppers:
Cut the tops off the peppers

Use a cheese grater to shave the zucchini and squash

Chop the mushrooms
Chop the onion

In a bowl mix all the ingredients except the cheese, peppers and tomato sauce

There's meat under there, promise :)

Coat the bottom of a casserole dish with half the heirloom tomato sauce

Add the well combined ingredients to the peppers, really stuff them good. Don't be afraid if they seemed overflowing, that's what you want

Add peppers and top with remaining tomato sauce
Bake for 40 minutes, take out and top with the mozzarella cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted

Look at the ooey gooey cheese!

This is the "smaller" of the two - soooo yummy!



 Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

Enjoy!

Lasagna Cupcakes

You know the "If you could only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of your life what would it be?" question? Well, I always answer it with Mexican, but Italian is not far behind. I love the combo of pasta, cheese and sauce - in any form it always tickles my fancy! This lasagna recipe is really fun and would make a wonderful potluck dish. Its portion controlled, and light on the carbs as you do not use big sheets of lasagna noodles you use wonton wrappers. These are also really easy to make! I owe credit to Hungry Girl as this is her recipe.

Lasagna Cupcakes

The Stuff:
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes, I use the one with basil and oregano
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon each of dried: oregano, basil and parsley
S&P
1 10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/2 cups of low fat ricotta
1/4 cup fat free egg substitute (I use egg whites)
24 small wonton wrappers (I could not find square ones, but round worked fine)
1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese

The How To:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• In a large skillet add turkey and cook until no longer pink, make sure to use a wooden spoon and crumble as you cook, top with S&P to taste
• Add onion and mushrooms and cook until veggies are tender
• Reduce heat to low and add tomatoes, 1 clove of garlic, spices and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
• While the turkey mixture is simmering, combine spinach, ricotta, egg, dash of salt, and remaining garlic to a bowl and mix well.
• Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick spray
• Press a wonton wrapper onto bottom of pan in each cup, evenly distribute the ricotta mixture and smooth with back of a spoon

• Evenly distribute the turkey mixture on top of the ricotta mixture and top with a little mozzarella cheese

• Top with another wonton wrapper, pressing it down on to the cheese but making sure the edges are poking out
• Top with remaining mozzarella cheese

• Bake for about 10 minutes or so or until the edges are browned and cheese is melted

Weight Watcher friends: 1 cupcake is 5 points

Enjoy!

Meyer Lemon Curd

So, remember those yummy scones I posted a couple days ago? Well, I have the PERFECT item to top them with - Meyer Lemon Curd! My, oh my talk about yummy! Curd is an English tradition one would find during high tea paired with biscuits or scones. It is so easy to make its a crime that I've never made it before. Using Meyer lemons was ideal because it cut the amount of sugar out that I had to use.  

Meyer Lemon Curd
Recipe adapted from Epicurious

The Stuff:
4 Meyer Lemons
1/4 cup sugar (add more if you want it sweet, I like the tart lemony flavor so kept the sugar to a minimum)
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter cut in to cubes

The How To:

• Grate lemon zest to measure about a tablespoon

• Squeeze the lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice
• Whisk together the zest, juice, sugar and eggs in a metal bowl
• Add butter

• In a saucepan, simmer water, once brought to a simmer lower heat to low
• Place metal bowl with ingredients on top of saucepan making sure the pan is not so full of water that the water touches the bottom of the bowl - you don't want that
• Whisk ingredients continuously until thick and smooth

• You can run the curd through a sieve, I didn't find it necessary though
• Serve warm, or cover and put in fridge until you are ready to use, I had trouble not eating by the spoon full as soon as it was done cooking - this stuff is GOOD!

Enjoy!