Stuff Those Peppers!

Good morning all – happy Friday!! I totally overslept today and was running around like a mad woman. Typically Murphy wakes me up every morning around 5:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m., so oversleeping is usually pretty tough to do. Today for some reason, the little bugger decided to leave me alone and let me sleep in peace. And I certainly did – 45 minutes past my normal waking time. Yikes!!

First – a quick recap of yesterday’s eats, which includes a fun new recipe I tried!

For breakfast I reverted back to the hot stuff – oatmeal with banana, a splash of almond milk and brown sugar sprinkled on top.

For lunch I grabbed a quick salad with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, carrots, walnuts, dried cranberries and chick peas. But I forgot to document it. Afternoon snacks were Chobani yogurt and then this…

I know – so bad. I bought these for the Yankee game we went to earlier this week and then never ate them. I was having a sugar craving and was a little bit stressed at work, so this was definitely some stress eating. Boo!

But then my dinner completely brought my spirits back up!

Mmm I made stuffed peppers for the first time! I wanted to use red peppers, but the selection available at my nearest grocer was appalling and I didn’t feel like traipsing all around. Green peppers worked just as well.

Here is the recipe, adapted from CookingLight.com’s recipe search.

Stuffed Peppers

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 medium bell peppers (recipe called for four, but I made three and adjusted the ingredient amounts to fit), tops removed and reserved, and seeds removed
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1  yellow onion, diced
• 1  large carrot, peeled and diced
• 2  cloves garlic, minced
• 8  ounces  lean (90 percent) ground beef
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1  teaspoon  pepper
• 1  (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup  cooked brown rice
• 3/4  cup  grated Monterey Jack

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add peppers and pepper tops and cook until tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove peppers from water and invert to drain fully.

Make filling: Warm olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add carrot and garlic and continue cooking until vegetables are just softened, 4 minutes longer. Add beef, salt and pepper and cook, breaking up large chunks, until meat is no longer pink, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes and rice and cook 5 minutes longer. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese.

Fill peppers with meat mixture, dividing evenly. Sprinkle mixture with remaining cheese and top with pepper lid. Bake until cheese is melted and peppers are heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve hot.
 
I made two stuffed peppers for hubby and one for myself. Hubby gave them his seal of approval, but also said it was way too much food for him.

Awesome dinner! The rest of my night was cleaning up my dinner mess, vacuuming, watching a little bit of So You Think You Can Dance and then reading more of Cutting for Stone. It’s a really good book so far – I’m about 300 pages into it and I’m engrossed. I still have about another 200 pages to go, so I probably won’t have a review up this weekend, but hopefully by next weekend. Then it will be time for me to choose my next book and I’m torn between 1) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or 2) Olive Kitteridge.

Anyone recommend one over the other or read either of these?

I might have to read Olive first because it’s my mom’s book and she needs to pass it along.

What’s on your summer “to read” list? Any great suggestions?!

Ok – well I hope everyone has a great weekend. We are visiting friends who had a baby about two months ago and we haven’t had a chance to meet him yet. I’m also hoping to maybe get in a short and easy run at some point. My darn toe is still hurting, but I just can’t sit around anymore!!

Have a great weekend!! 🙂