Low Carb Stuffed Peppers

No breading, but just as good! I did not take a picture, I will next time though!

Low-Carb Stuffed Peppers
recipe not adapted from a website. i did this a bunch when i had gestational diabetes.


Yield: 4 servings

Notes from Marie: 
 - I made these ahead of time and froze. This is a good recipe to do this with.
 - Keep in mind when you cook frozen meals to check the internal temperature, for this one it should be 165!
 -I recommend pulling this one out of the freezer either the night before you plan to make it or the morning before so it thaws out some. I ended up having to cook this almost 2 hours at 350 to heat correctly!

Ingredients:
4 Green Bell Peppers (I usually use green, but I have used red and yellow too. Keep in mind that the color of the pepper does affect the flavor, fyi!)
Marinara Sauce (from the Introduction page)
1 medium Yellow Onion, diced
1 head of cauliflower
1/2lb ground turkey
1/2lb ground pork
Italian Mix Cheese

Seasonings:
Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Minced Garlic
Italian Seasonings (from Chicken roll ups recipe)

Directions:
1) Turn the oven on 350 and start a medium pot of water boiling on the stove. Be sure to add salt!
2) Cut up the peppers = Cut the tops off (don't cut the bottoms off! I have to tell myself this everytime because it's a habit to cut both off!), but keep them! Don't throw them out! Use a spoon and scrap the seeds out of the middle.
3) Put the peppers in the boiling water for about 5 minutes.
4) While the peppers are in the water, dice up the tops of the peppers.
5) Put a saute pan on the stove on medium heat. Add some oil.
6) Add 1 tbsp minced garlic. Let cook for about a minute.
7) Add onions and peppers to the pan. Cook until tender.
8) Add both the turkey and the pork to the pan.
9) Remove the peppers from the water and place upright in an oven safe dish. If you plan on freezing, I recommend adding marinara to the bottom of the dish first. This way you don't have to worry about pulling out frozen sauce and portioning. It will all be in the bottom of the pan.
10) Cook the pork and turkey until brown. Be sure to break apart with a fork while they are cooking. Those meats tend to clump together.
11) Take the cauliflower and cut a little off each side. Finely dice.
12) Put the cauliflower, meat and veggie combo, and a little marinara in a bowl. Throw in a little bit of Italian Mix cheese. Season with salt, pepper and Italian Herbs. Mix very well!
13) Take the mixture and put into each pepper. I put a little in each and then push down. I repeat this process until the peppers are pretty filled. I even let them overflow a little.
14) Cover the tops with cheese. At this point I wrapped the dish in plastic wrap and put in the freezer.
15) Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes, just to make the peppers more tender and to melt the cheese.
16) Put one on a plate and top with marinara.
17) Enjoy! 
 
Next time I make this:
 - I have perfected this one over time as well. I made these many many times while I had gestational diabetes.

I hope you like this recipe. If you have you own ideas and improvements to them, just comment so I can try them myself! :)

Spaghetti Squash Pasta

Not the same as pasta, but pretty dang yummy!

Spaghetti Squash Pasta with Parmesan Meatballs
recipe not adapted from a website. something i've wanted to do for a while.

Yield: 4 servings

Notes from Marie: 
 - This is not the same as pasta, obviously, but it's a pretty decent substitute.
 - You can do any toppings you would like. I just picked these because I thought they sounded yummy!
 - I always use my pastas as a "Let's clean out the fridge" day too. So the toppings I have aren't necessarily what you need to put in yours. Go through your fridge and use any vegetables that might go bad soon and voila! Pasta toppings!

Ingredients:
1 whole Spaghetti Squash (They look like really fat Yellow Squash, fyi!)
Marinara Sauce (from the Introduction page)
1 medium Red Onion, sliced
1 whole fennel bulb, thinly sliced (leftover from my Asian vegetables)
2 leeks, thinly sliced (also leftover from my Asian vegetables)
6 mushroom (also leftover from my Asian vegetables)
1lb ground pork
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Italian Mix Cheese

Seasonings:
Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Minced Garlic
Italian Seasonings (from Chicken roll ups recipe)

Directions:
1) Turn the oven on 425.
2) Cut the Spaghetti Squash in half. Warning: this is nowhere near as easy as it sounds. Be sure you have a really sharp knife and make sure its long! I typically force the knife into the middle and then force it around in a circle. I find that the easiest way to do this. I will take a picture next time (which will be really soon!)
3) Scrape the seeds out of the center. This is just like a pumpkin (hooray for Halloween year round! lol!) Be sure to get all the seeds out!
4) Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place the halves on it. Be sure to place them meat up! Drizzle olive oil over the squash and season with salt and pepper.
5) Cook for approximately 30 minutes. Then put on a plate and put in the fridge. Leave the oven door cracked, and drop your temp to 350. If you don't leave the door cracked, your oven will never cool down in enough time.
6) While the squash is cooking (about 10 minutes), dump your pork into a bowl. Mix in 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp Italian Seasonings and 1 egg. Mix well.7) Form those into meatballs and put in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
8) While meatballs are cooking, put a saute pan on medium heat on the stove with oil.
9) Add 1 tsbp of garlic and let cook for about a minute. Then dump in all your vegetables.10) Pull the spaghetti squash out of the fridge.
11) Take a fork and separate the strands from the flesh. Flip the fork with the inside facing down and lightly scrap the flesh towards the inside of the squash. I'll take a picture of this next time too! Do this all the way around until all the flesh is off the squash. Referring to it as flesh is strange... But I'm not sure what else to call it! Do this on both sides.
12) Put the spaghetti squash strands in the bowl and toss with some marinara. Toss in the sauteed veggies (hope you didn't forget about them!) and mix well.
13) By this point the meatballs should be done. Take them out of the oven and let cool.
14) Put the squash and veggie mixture into bowls and put meatballs on top. Sprinkle Italian Cheese mix on top. 
15) Enjoy! 
 
Next time I make this:
 - I might use a different meat on the meatballs. I was thinking turkey next time.

I hope you like this recipe. If you have you own ideas and improvements to them, just comment so I can try them myself! :)

Loaded Cauliflower

Mike and I both really enjoyed this recipe. People who know me, know I'm not a fan of mashed potatoes, but I imagine this is similar to loaded potatoes. So yummy and good... Not necessarily the best thing for you... But it's Low Carb! :)

Loaded Cauliflower

Yield: 6 servings

Notes from Marie: 
 - If you want to go healthy, avoid the bacon, ranch and butter, but that's what makes it so yummy...
 - I made turkey meatloaf with mine. That's what the other thing on the plate is. I'm not giving you that recipe, because I never put the same stuff in it. I did however use chopped up cauliflower to sub out the breadcrumbs.

Ingredients:
1 whole head of Cauliflower
6 Scallions
Ranch Dressing
1/2 Stick of Butter (melted)
Cheese (I used the Italian Cheese blend from Aldi, but I would recommend cheddar because it fits with everything better)
2.5 oz bag of Bacon Bits (I use the REAL bacon bits, not those cheap gross fake bacon things. I also usually find my bacon bits at Walmart. I can find it at Aldi's sometimes, but not often)
 



Seasonings:
Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Garlic Powder

Directions:
1) Turn the oven on 350.
2) Cut the cauliflower into florets. Just like you would with broccoli, but keep in mind that cauliflower is harder than broccoli.
3) Place the cauliflower florets in a 2 quart oven safe dish and combine with the 1/2 stick melted butter.
4) Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix well.
5) Cook for about 30 minutes.
6) Pull the cauliflower out of the oven and dump about 3/4 of the bacon bits in. Mix everything up.
7) Top with cheese and put back into the oven for about 10 more minutes.
8) Allow about 5 to 10 minutes for it to cool and then drizzle the ranch over the top.
9) Enjoy!

Next time I make this:
 -I want to use cheddar cheese, but besides that, I wouldn't change anything else. It's sooo yummy! Mike and I couldn't stop eating it!

I hope you like this recipe. If you have you own ideas and improvements to them, just comment so I can try them myself! :)