Healthy Meatless Stuffed Peppers

This is a great, light meal- full of flavor and texture and deliciousness. Very 5:2 friendly.  And I am all about 5:2 Diet.  I have lost a total 22 pounds since Fathers Day.  Which may not be a lot to some but for me it is a milestone.  I don't lose weight very easily.  This plan is totally working for me.  Just recently though I hit a plateau so I switched it up to every other day. Dr. Krista Varady is the pioneer of that one. The Every Other Day Diet.  My husband has been doing her plan since Fathers Day.  He has lost 32 pounds.  Wow!

If you want to read more about it go here to James Clear for an excellent article outlining why it works. Or you can watch the documentary from the BBC from Dr. Mosley.  He later wrote the 5:2 Diet Book.

I am totally sold on it.  Works for me.  I can eat basically what I want most days and fast for 2 or so days a week.  Even on the fasting days its fun for a foodie.  Trying to find delicious, seriously low cal meals that fill your belly.

These peppers totally fill the bill.  I made them last week and I am making them again tonight! It may be a lot of steps but it is totally worth it. 

Healthy Meatless Stuffed Peppers
Makes six stuffed peppers.

1/4 cup dry quinoa
2 tablespoons black beluga lentils
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
4 basil leaves
4 large tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup asiago cheese
1 small onion
1 red bell pepper
2 teaspoons avocado oil (or whatever oil you use)
7 green bell peppers (1 for chopping the rest for stuffing)

In a small sauce pan combine quinoa and beluga lentils with 2 cups water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cover.

In another small sauce pan add tomatoes, garlic, salt, and basil. Bring to a boil and gently simmer uncovered until tomatoes are falling apart. Once the tomatoes are tender, puree gently.

While those are simmering away, chop up one green bell pepper, red bell pepper and the onion. Preheat oven now to 350F.

Once the quinoa and belugas are done, transfer to a bowl.  In that same pot sauté the peppers and onions until soft and tender. Transfer to the same bowls as the belugas and quinoa.

Cut tops off of peppers and scrape out the innards. In a pot with a little bit of water, steam the peppers until the are just soft.  The green color will lose its brightness and they will be a little flexible.  

In a 9 x 9 baking dish pour the tomato sauce. Place steamed peppers into dish and measure out a 1/4 cup of pepper/quinoa mixture into peppers.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of asiago and then layer another 1/4 cup of pepper quinoa mixture.  Then another tablespoon of asiago cheese.  If you like sprinkle some cracked pepper over top.  Cover with foil and place in the oven for about 30 minutes.

About 100 calories per pepper.

Kale and Quinoa

For all you parents you know how busy the end of the school year is.  Concerts, picnics, get togethers.... its crazy.  When you are the sandwich generation, it just gets even crazier.  Suffice to say between helping my parents lately and being Mom to two children, I have my hands full.  I am sure many of you know what I am talking about. We always think we are the ones that are so busy.  But really everyone is busy.  And busy changes over time, doesnt it?  My Fathers idea is busy, is that he had a doctors appt in the morning and had to roll his coins.  The elderly woman I know, her idea of busy is that she had to do dishes and make her bed.  I say this not as a criticism.  When you are tired or ailing in some way, things can seem busy because it just takes so much energy.  You know what I am saying.  Its all kind of relative.  For me, busy means I don't have much "me" time.  Lets be clear, I love my "me" time.  I can be downright selfish in this way.  I need "me" time for sewing, creating things in the kitchen, puttering around, organizing, whatever. It helps me keep my sanity.  (Which is pretty relative, I might add).  An hour of "me" time is wonderful!  Four hours of "me" time is amazing, rejuvenating and awesome.  So as we head into summer, I don't really expect too much "me" time.  And it's okay.  I love when my kids are home.  At least, that is, when they are not fighting.  Its unscheduled time for the most part for us.  Sleeping in a little longer, a little slower pace.  I enjoy that.  I am going to miss my "me" time though! I promise to blog as much as possible.

This post is kind of a hodge podge of stuff.  You see this here "bouquet" from Edible Arrangements?  Isn't it pretty!  We received this a week or so ago.  It disappeared kind of fast.  I did use the kale, which you see above.  I boiled it a little bit and put it in the refrigerator.  I had some leftover quinoa.  I thought how about this combination.  I sautéed the kale in a little olive oil with garlic.  Then I added the quinoa, just so it was heated.  It was incredibly good.  I like quinoa but there was something about this combination that made it stellar.  Definitely a do over around here.  Simple easy, nutritious and delicious.

This here was an amazing meal I had at a local Mexican restaurant called, Salena's.  I usually get the mole chicken. One of my faves! A glass of sangria made it all the better!

South Western Quinoa Salad

The good people at Red Pack tomaotes contacted me and sent me some of there wonderful canned tomatoes. This recipe is slightly adapted from Red Pack's recipe.  Visit there website for more delicious recipes and pcik up a can and make some of these fresh delicious salads!

South Western Quinoa Salad
Recipe courtesy of Red Pack Tomatoes

1 cup quinoa cooked
1 – 14 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 – 14 ounce can corn, drained
1- can Red Pack Tomatoes
1/2 of a large red bell pepper
4 green onions, sliced thinly
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Juice from 2 limes
3 tablespoons barbeque sauce

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
for bonus flavor and added heat add a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne or a chopped pickled jalapeno

In a small bowl whisk together limes, olive oil, garlic powder, barbeque sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Combine cooked quinoa, black beans, corn, tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions,  and cilantro.  Mix in the dressing.  Serve with cilantro sprinkled over top and some lime wedges.

MUNG BUNG BEAN BURGERS

Really bad picture, really good flavored bean burger.  Don't let its appearance fool you.

I had to make the name fun so my kids would think it was equally fun  to eat it.  They did.  They not only thought it was fun, they also thought it was delicious.  The kids both had two burgers and my husband had 3, leaving me with one to eat, since the recipe made 8.  I didn't mind.  The temptation for more calories was taken away.  Better in their bellies than on mine.

Secretly, while they were munching away I was thinking about how much nutrition they were getting.  I especially felt that way because my older daughter thought she would like to become a vegetarian about a month ago.  Getting protein into the girl has been a bit of a challenge.  Man can not live by cheese alone, or can he?  Cheese is pretty important to our family.  We do not buy deli meats as a general rule.  We eat a lot of vegetarian meals just because a couple years ago we decided it was more economical and better for the planet if we ate less meat.  So, bean burgers are no surprise in this family.

Inside these beauties and seriously it was one of the best bean burgers I have made, is quinoa, mung beans and eggs.  I definitely hit a high protein mark!

Yes, I know the name is silly but that is how I roll.  You can be all serious and call them Mung and Quinoa burgers if you like- but see if your kids get excited to eat them.

Mung Bung Bean Burgers

2 cups cooked green mung beans
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup panko crumbs
3 eggs
1 small onion, minced
4 ounces smoked cheddar cheese (this gives the burgers their big flavor-don't substitute)
1 generous teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 packet Goya Sazon (you can skip this but it gives the burgers some nice umami)

Once your quinoa is cooked and your mung beans are cooked you are good to go.  I had cooked the beans a few days before making it.  It is helpful to season the mung beans as they are cooking- a little bit of salt and garlic if you like.

Mix all the ingredients together and let it sit while you get out your pan, etc.  Its up to you if you want to fry these in oil.  I did- but you don't need a lot of oil to do it.

Form the bean mixture into patties.  Fry on a moderate heat, turning once they are browned.

Mexican Style Quinoa Bake

When life gives you leftovers, make Mexican food.  It's no joke.  I can hide a multitude of leftovers in a Mexican casserole.  Flavor it up with all those delicious Mexican flavors, throw in some chips, salsa and cheese and none of the people in my family even notice.  (Well, my one daughter did pick the peppers out of it- and that wasn't even the leftover part).  I did see this amazing recipe on Pinterest and said- dang, I pretty much have all of that in my fridge at this very moment.  You can find the inspiration recipe here at Half Baked Harvest and believe me, it is totally drool worthy. The only thing I was missing was some cheddar.  I decided just to use some feta because I had a lot of it.  Its not nearly as pretty as molten cheddar cheese.  But equally delicious.

Dip a chip into that top it with some pico de gallo and we were good to go.

Mexican Style Quinoa Bake

1 can of black beans
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 tablespoon oil
2 onions, chopped
1 pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon taco seasonings
2 teaspoons cumin
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 cup of cheese- cheddar is best but feta is nice too


Sauté onions, peppers and garlic in oil in a large skillet that you can throw in the oven (if you like).  Once translucent add in the remainder of ingredients except cheese. Cook until all ingredients are heated through.  Once combined sprinkle cheese over top.  Either place under a broiler or you can cover and the pan and it will melt nicely.

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

This is my lunch today.  After working out two times yesterday, I was totally ready for it.  It tasted incredible.  It's a very simple deal, comes together quickly if you have leftovers. I usually try and keep some kind of cooked grain in my fridge- quinoa, rice, wheat berries, whatever.  This is a one person serving.  You obviously can quadruple it for four.  Uppa to you.  You may want to keep it a secret because then you can eat it all yourself.  I thought of the combination because of some African dishes I have had with sweet potatoes and peanuts.  Didn't have peanuts so I subbed in cashews.  Awwww, so good.

The thing about salads is you can do whatever you like once you have the basic ideas of what a hearty meal type salad should be comprised of.  Its not rocket science.   All you need is some protein, some carbs, some veggies, some acid (like vinegar or lemon juice) and some oil.  At least that is kind of the equation I use.  I throw in some aromatics (like garlic or cilantro or parsley) or seasonings (spices like Herbes de Provence) depending on my mood.  So, you could do whatever, depending on your mood.  But the nice thing about people posting their salads, like me, is it gives you a plethora of ideas.  I always look for reasons to say that word 'plethora", I feel so official.  Anyway, once you have seen your jazzy ideas here or some other blog pull together your own dang, amazing salad.  Then by all means post it to share it with the rest of us so we can be inspired.

All of this amazing salad for about 450 calories.  It's filling too!

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad 

I used a flavored vinegar that I bought at one of those delicious vinegar and oil places.  So freaking delicious.  Its no joke when I tell you I measure out a tablespoon and drink it just to get the flavor of it in my mouth.  Swoon.

Printable here.

1 tablespoon grapefruit vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon olive oil, with one teaspoon removed from it to saute the sweet potato
1 sweet potato, chopped- about 115 grams or a 1/2 cup
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
1/3 cup sweet onion, chopped
garlic powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup cashews

Sauté the sweet potato in about a teaspoon of olive oil.  You can sauté the onion too but I like the crunch of nearly raw ones.  In a bowl, heat the quinoa with the onions in the microwave.  Once the quinoa and onions are heated, add to it the cilantro, seasonings, olive oil, vinegar and cashews.  Once your sweet potatoes are done, toss that in.  And voilà - fairly quick meal, filled with nutrients and satisfying flavors