Simple Italian Peppers

NOTE: Sorry for the long silence. I am having continual issues with my health that make me slow and tired. Sorry! I do have posts written and scheduled for the rest of the month so check back often as there should be something new up every couple of days.

I recently had Italian Stuffed Peppers as an appetizer at a restaurant; they were lovely, warm and filling, the kind of food that makes cold weather feel cozy. So I set about trying to recreate the recipe. I found a version of this on Allrecipe.com, but it was a super busy recipe that involved steaming the peppers and doing all sorts of extra busy work, which who has time for that?

So not only did I want to recreate the recipe, I wanted to keep it simple and I think I’ve done that.

Because Italian sausage can get expensive, I use zucchini as a meat extender to give us all more bang for our buck. Since the sausage is so heavily spiced, no one will notice the zucchini which also happens to make it easier to sneak in veggies for your picky eaters.

Ingredients

-Sweet peppers OR Hot Hungarian peppers if you want some heat. You’ll want at least 4 which, when cut, will yield 8 servings. For leftovers increase the quantity to 6-8 peppers.

-1 package sweet or hot Italian sausage (usually contains 5 links) or 1.5lbs ground sausage without casing

-Diced onion

-Minced garlic

-1 egg

-1/4 cup Parmsean cheese

-1 cup grated zucchini

-Spaghetti sauce (1 jar if you’re only using 4 peppers, 2 jars if using more.)

-Shredded mozzarella

Instructions

1.Slice and clean the peppers. Try to get them sliced so that they’ll comfortably hold meat—sometimes that can be tricky depending on pepper shape. If using Hungarian Hot peppers, please wear gloves to keep the oil off your skin. I don’t find these peppers to be hot for eating, but they sure do burn my eyes and skin.

2.Place peppers in casserole dish.

3.Grate the zucchini and set aside.

4.Remove casing from sausages and set aside.

5.In a large mixing bowl, beat your egg and then add; onion, garlic, parmesan cheese, zucchini and sausage. Mix well.

6.Place sausage mix inside peppers. If you run out of peppers and still have meat, just make meatballs and put them next to the peppers.

7.Top the peppers with spaghetti sauce.

8.Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes.

9.Top with cheese for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Serve hot from the oven and enjoy the melded flavors of peppers, tomatoes, and sausage.

Happy July & a Jalapeno Popper Recipe that Won't Burn Off Your Tongue

Things are trucking along over here.

Managed to weigh myself at the doctor's office, down only 3 lbs in about 6 weeks. However, my body shape has completely changed and I've dropped almost 2 sizes. I attribute that to this DVD workout (which is only 20 minutes and very doable, yet offers striking results).

I've also cut the carbs back drastically to try and jump start weight loss. However, without a scale handy I don't actually know if I'm losing weight, although I think I am still losing inches.

What have I been eating?

-Egg muffins. The recipe is from Mark's Daily Apple. They are not my favorite thing, but they are convenient for batch cooking and reheating throughout the week.

-Cajun bleu cheese hamburgers, which really don't reheat well, but are great fresh off the grill. Today was day 4 of those and I couldn't finish them, the taste was too 'off' from being a leftover.

-Dinner has been protein and veggie. I have a great new recipe for drumsticks, although the sauce does use jam. I am okay with some sugar in marinades and sauces so long as everything else is pretty low carb. It doesn't hurt my weight loss. Your mileage may vary.

Anyway, I'm making the drumsticks again this week so I can take a picture. That is my big downfall--forgetting to take the picture!

I'm still eating BLTs when I can, my lettuce is almost out in the garden. Time to reseed, but we'll be going on vacation soon and I hesitate to leave lettuce to summer's not-so-tender mercies without me there to provide water.

Snackwise, I am loving jalapeno poppers. However, I can't handle hot food and the first batch I made, using jalapenos, was screaming hot. So just wanted to pass on that Banana Peppers and Cubanelle peppers are a better choice for tender tongued eaters like myself. Although, sometimes they are too bland so I've taken to dicing some jalapeno and mixing it in the cream cheese for a little kick.

Emphasis on little.

So here's what you do.

-Pick your peppers based on your heat preference.

-Halve them and scrape out seeds as well as any membrane

-Fill each half with plain cream cheese

-Wrap in bacon

-Bake at 400F for 15-25 minutes until the bacon is done.

These are absolutely delicious and they look nice enough to bring to a party (sorry, no pic, although I think I'm making these tonight, so I may update). Phenomenal. Real comfort food and super quick to put together. The cream cheese does not melt and ooze all over, it stays firm and can even get a bit crusty on top in spots where the bacon doesn't cover.

What I'm Eating: Low Carb Menu Update

Of late, I have not been eating much.

I still have pretty significant food aversions and a hard-to-please appetite. This is all related to the health issues I had back in March which have presented ongoing challenges in one way or another.

Mostly I eat a low carb chocolate muffin for breakfast and as an afternoon snack. Sometimes I add in some Cool Whip (which is low carb, although not technically real food of any quality). Cool Whip makes the muffins taste like a seriously decadent dessert and once I topped that with fresh raspberries, which wowza, talk about yummy.

Lunch is, lately, salami and some cheese. Yesterday I had a BLT in a low carb tortilla with lettuce and dill fresh from my garden. Lots of mayo. Really hit the spot.

Dinner is a crap shoot. Yesterday I snitched some of the family's french fries and had one chicken tender. (I was too pooped to cook and left it to them to figure it out so they raided the freezer for frozen junk food.) Not sure why I thought I didn't need dinner, I hadn't eaten a whole lot that day. I did expect the fries I'd snitched to carry me through for some reason.

So no surprise that I began to feel pretty awful around 9pm. Low blood sugar awful. So I made myself another BLT, heavy on the mayo and had a teaspoon of jam while waiting for the bacon to cook just to get some sugar in me. That did the trick and I felt much better.

I think the BLTs are going to be my new 'thing.'

Most of the other meals I listed a few posts back have not been made. We're just busy. Lots of stuff going on so cooking is limited. I have made ribs twice and while the flavor is fantastic, they are not as tender as we would like so I need to figure that out. Maybe cook them in the oven longer????

Rosemary Mustard Chicken Recipe

Of the new recipes I've tried lately, this is one of the better ones. I find that I like mustard based marinades, which is news to me! But mustard really infuses the meant nicely.

Marinade:
1/2 cup brown mustard (I use Stadium mustard instead of Dijon as it's cheaper)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup olive oil (I used 1/2)
Fresh minced garlic
3 tbsp fresh minced rosemary
Salt
Pepper
1 tbsp Poultry Seasoning

Marinate for 6-8 hours.

Grill and discard leftover marinade.

Very tasty!

2 Week Low Carb Meal Plan

Here's the current 2 week meal plan--I will post any keeper recipes and actually have a few waiting in the wings that I need to sit down and type up. Time is in short supply of late!

-Chicken Chickpea curry

-Hamburgers with coleslaw

-Hamburgers with rutabaga fries

-Parmesan chicken with salad

-Lemon caper chicken with frozen broccoli

-Pizza

-Rosemary mustard chicken with salad

-Brats with kraut

-Italian marinated chicken on the grill with frozen green beans

-Orange Thai Beef kabobs with broccoli

- Greek chicken kabobs with asparagus

- Ribs with salad

-Short ribs with salad

Update (Now with Photos)

Hi. I haven't abandoned this blog. My health has not been good and I've been too tired to blog much here. I am still low carbing, but have had issues, related to my health, with hypoglycemia so I am eating more carbs than I would otherwise.

Hopefully, I'm on the mend. Weight has fluctuated all over the place due to medication and water retention, but I haven't gone up more than 5-8 lbs. Unfortunately, I haven't gone down much either--I hope this changes soon. It has really been a challenge lately, but I'm trying to stay positive.

In the interim, I did upload pictures for the following recipes:

Carb Conscious Peanut Butter Cookies

Flank Steak Salad with Jalapeno Onion Chutney

Low Carb Shepherd's Pie

Low Riders & Other Announcements

1. My jeans are loose, but I can still wear them, which is a good thing. I'm not ready to go shopping! They're on the edge though of falling off--pretty soon I won't have to unbutton them to put them on or take them off.

2.My capris from last season are falling off though and can't be worn out of the house for fear I'll moon someone.

3.I can't find the USB cable for my camera which means I haven't been able to update recipes with photos! Grrrr. Hopefully I find it soon!

Ciao!