Moving to a New Location

While it’s been fun having the blog on wordpress.com, I’ve decided that I’m taking this blog and several others that I maintain and merge them into one Big Blog at www.dontbeapicklebump.com.

The great thing is that I’m still using WordPress but will also have added flexibilty and control over the presentation of my writing and pictures. So come visit me and check out the new digs. There’s still some construction going on, but it’s all good!

Paula’s Stuffed Peppers

These peppers have a bit of a southwestern flair with the addition of corn and a touch of cayenne pepper!

 

1/2 cup Japonica Rice
1/2 cup Brown Rice
3 cups water
6 Bell Peppers (red, yellow, orange)
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Onion, cut into medium dice
3 Gloves Garlic, minced
1 lb Lean or Extra Lean Ground Beef
1 Jar Newman’s Own Sockaroni Sauce
1 Cup Frozen Sweet Corn
Salt and pepper to Taste
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (option)
1 cup finely shredded Mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a large dutch oven or pot, place enough water to fill pot to 2/3 full and bring to a boil. While you are waiting for the water, prepre the rice.

2. In a small sauce pan, add Japonica rice and 1.5 cups of water. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook rice until done.

3. In a seperate small pan, add brown rice and the other 1.5 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook rice until done.

NOTE: If you don’t mind the Japonica rice coloring the brown rice, you can save yourself a pot and cook both rices together. I liked the look cooking the rices seperately gave to the dish.

While the rice cooks:

5.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large skillet, place oil oil and heat until the oil just begins to shimmer. Add onions and garlic to the skillet. When onions starting to turn translucent, add ground beef to skillet and brown.

6. Trim the tops off the peppers, remove the seeds and core, then parboil them for 2-3 minutes.

Peppers should be softer than when they went into the pot, but not soft enough that they lose their shape. Place peppers upside down on paper toweling so they can drain.

7. Once the ground beef has browned, add jar of Sockarooni sauce. Take a little bit water and swish it around inside the jar to get all the sauce. Bring up to a simmer.

8.  Place rice into a large mixing bowl. Add sweet corn and lightly toss.

Stir in meat sauce. Add salt and pepper. And if you want a little bit of heat add the 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper.

9. Place peppers in baking dish and fill with rice, corn and meat mixture.

Cover the peppers with aluminum foil and place in the oven for 45 minutes.

10. After 45 minutes, pull peppers out of the oven and remove aluminum foil. Sprinkle with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Place back in the oven and cook until tops are nicely melted and browned.

10. Sprinkle a bit more parmesan on and you are ready to dig in!!!

Egg Muffin

1 English Muffin
5 G Butter
112 G egg white
2 slices Jones Farm Dairy Canadian Bacon

Get small skillet nice and hot. Spray with a little cooking spray and then pour in egg whites. Salt and Pepper to taste. While that’s cooking, toast the english muffin. When you flip the egg whites (try to keep them in one piece if you can), add the Canadian bacon to the pan so it can warm up.

When muffin comes out of the toaster, split the butter between the two halves, put 1 slice of Canadian bacon on each half. fold up the egg whites and put on one half of the muffin. Flip other half on top.

Calories 266
Fat 6 G
Carbs 29 g
Protein  24 G 

NOTES: Depending on your calorie levels, you could use a whole egg. What I like about my version of the is that I get a lot higher protein ratio, I get less fat overall and it still satisfies the craving. Not to mention I get two pieces of Canadian bacon, because you know it’s really about the Canadian bacon. This also makes a quick dinner too.

Tuna Salad

1 can Tuna
1/4 cup celery chopped.
3 tsbp onion chopped
1 dill pickle chopped
2-3 tbsp plain lowfat yogurt
Salt to taste
pepper to taste

Mix first 4 ingredients together in small bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons of Plain yogurt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Scotchy Oatmeal

Scotchy Oatmeal
1 scoop butter cream toffee Dymatize
Toasted Walnuts or Pecans to fit your EFA micros
Oatmeal to fit your micros

Cook Oatmeal. Add add PP Powder and nuts. You could also use nut butters.

Krista’s Grilled Beef Salad

I got this from my friend Krista. It rocks.

1 pkg broccoli slaw
1/2 purple onion diced
1/4 cup Cilantro chopped
1/2 cup Newman’s Own Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing
Beef Steak grilled how you like it.

In bowl mix Broccoli Slaw, onion and Cilantro in bowl. Add Dressing and stir to coat (if you want more dressing you can add it). Put in the fridge for an hour.

While salad is chilling, you can grill the steak. I used a piece of tenderloin that was seasoned garlic powder and pepper and grilled rare.

Paula’s Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Nothing like a little alliteration in your food name eh???

can of packed pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling)
1.5 Cups of Egg White
1 tsp of Maple Syrup
Cinnamon and Nutmeg to taste
3 Scoops of vanilla protein powder (although I had to sub in a scoop of Butter Cream toffee dymatize because I ran out of vanilla)

Mix Pumpkin, Egg Whites, Maple Syrup and Spices together until fairly smooth. Add PP and mix until well combined.

Heat Griddle until sizzling hot and spray with a bit of pam. pour 1/3 cup of batter onto griddle and cook like a regular pancake. Flip when top begins to look set and almost dry.

This is my quick and easy breakfast food. It’s great with natural peanut butter and berries on top.

Paula’s Black Bean Salad

As much as I love Texas Caviar, I can’t eat a whole bowl of it myself so I came up with a similar salad on a much smaller scale.

1 14 oz can Black Beans Rinsed (I prefer organic)
3/4 Cup Frozen Corn
1/2 Red Bell Pepper Diced
1 Jalepeno Finely Diced.
1 Tomato Chopped
1 clove garlic, Minced
Juice of one Lemon
1 TBSP Olive Oil
Salt to Taste
Fresh Cracked Pepper to Taste.

Put first five ingredients in bowl and gently toss. Add Garlic and juice of 1 lemon. Drizzed olive oil over veggies and toss again. Can be eaten immediately or served cold.

You can add Avocado and other veggies to the mix.

Turkey Spinach Mix

Turkey Spinach Tacos

Yields: 8 Servings

Ingredients

2 package Turkey, Ground usually come in 1 lb packages
1 cup Onion
2 Clove Garlic to taste
16 ounce Spinach
1/4 teaspoon Pepper to taste
8 each Whole Wheat Tortillas
4 ounces Feta cheese

Instructions
Brown turkey, onion, and garlic until almost cooked. Add 16 oz package of spinach to pan. and cook until spinach is warm and turkey is cooked. Add pepper.

Warm tortillas. Put feta cheese on tortilla and then place scoop of turkey/spinach onion mixture on top. Roll Tortilla.

Notes:
The meat mixture portion of this is a double batch so freeze the leftovers and reheat as needed.
If you wanted a more greek flavor you could add a bit of dill to the mix (not a whole lot – a little dill goes a long way!)

Calories – 115; 6G of Fat; 3 G of Carb; 12G protein.

Turkey Black Bean Taco Recipe

1 pkg Lean Ground Turkey
1 pkg 40% less sodium Old El Paso Taco Seasoning
1 Can Black Beans Rinsed (I pretty much always rinse my beans before adding them)

Cook Turkey. Drain Fat off. Add Taco seasoning (follow package instructions) and beans.

I put this on whole wheat tortillas along with Lettuce, Tomatos and Salsa. It’s also good with green beans or as a salad. You also other veggies (corn works well) and freeze it.

Macros: 1 cup serving 179 Cal. 5 G Fat, 14 G. Carbs, 24 G Protein

(NOTE My recipe program did not have Taco seasoning listed in its database so the calories and macros might be slightly higher)