Stuffed Bell Pepper

I've made this a couple of times now. It has become a favorite of my husbands! Its very simple and is great for a busy night. Just mix it up, throw it in the oven, and do what you need to do!

Ingredients:

Green Bell Peppers (as many as you want. 1 fills me up, my husband likes 2)

Ground Beef

Worstceshire Sauce

Soy Sauce

Onion (chopped)

1 Egg

Salt and Pepper

Ketchup and Shredded Cheese for topping.

Directions:

1. Thaw meat and put in bowl (size depends on how much you use)

2. Add in chopped onion, worstceshire sauce (just cover the meat-I'm not sure on the measurement), a splash of soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. I also put a little Tony Chachere's in mine...you can really put whatever spices you want in your meat!

3. Mash up everything with your hands until mixed well...this gets a little messy! haha

4. Crack 1 egg over the meat and mix it all up again. The egg keeps the onion and anything else you add it from completely falling off the meat.

5. Slice open the top of your bell peppers and put a small hole in each part of the bottom (there is usually 4, but it depends on how your bell pepper is shaped). Cut the center away, pulling out the core and seeds.

6. Stuff the bell peppers with meat, just even it out between the peppers.

7. Place on baking sheet, you can put the tops back on if you want.

8. Bake at 350 for about an hour. About 5-10 min before they are done squirt ketchup on top and cover with shredded cheese.
9. Take them out and enjoy!

Here are some pictures of the process!

Here are the ingredients

All stuffed!

Finished Product!

Results:

Very good meal! However, that was expected. I also like it because its fairly low carb and you can personalize it as much as you want. There are so many possibilities for flavoring the meat!

I gave the meal a 9. It is very good and I enjoy it. I can't give it a 10, I reserve that for A-MA-ZING meals. (Like that chicken I loved so much)

Dillon gives it a 8.7...geez he's worse than Simon. Just kidding. He really likes it too. Red, the dog, loves the meat but is not having the pepper part. haha!

Give it a try!!

Pecan Crusted Chicken & Asparagus

Well if you can't tell, I have been on a low carb diet for a few weeks now. I don't ever get way too serious about it but I do generally like to stick to a smaller amount of carbs. This means protein, protein, protein! This week I have decided to make pecan crusted chicken with asparagus. I got recipes for both from the internet and modified them. The chicken came from dianaskitchen.com and the asparagus came from simplyrecipes.com. I'm going to start with the chicken, then the asparagus and pictures. Here we go!

Pecan Crusted Chicken:
1 cup ground pecans
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon basil
Juice of 1 sm. lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
Bonless Chicken Breast...I used 2 but I think you could probably make up to 4 with the mixture.

Directions:
In a lg. shallow dish mix the pecans, cheese, garlic salt, and basil. I also used some white pepper and mixed it here as well.
Put the lemon juice in another shallow dish.
Dip the chicken in the lemon juice, then coat in the pecan mixture. Make sure and get the chicken coated well.
Cook chicken over medium or medium high heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side. Make sure you use a non-stick pan or use a non-stick spray.

Simple right? It really is quick and easy. If you want the mixture to stick to the chicken a little better I would suggest using an egg and mixing some lemon juice in with it. Okay, now on to the side item!

Asparagus:
1 lg bunch of asparagus (basically, however much you want)
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest (use the lemon you juiced for the chicken)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Rinse off the asparagus and cut the bottom a couple of inches up so that a fresh part shows at the bottom.
Cut into 1 or 2 inch pieces. You could also do them whole, which is what I did. Either way it will taste similar.
Fill a medium saucepan about half way full with water and bring to a boil.
Add the asparagus and reduce to a simmer. You will only need to boil the asparagus for about 2 or 3 minutes!
Drain the hot water.
While still hot toss the asparagus in a bowl with the olive oil, lemon, cheese, and salt and pepper.

Pictures: I'm having trouble with the pictures, but I did manage to get one up. Here is the finished plate!

Results:
I LOVED it! The chicken was very good. The pecan crust gave it a crunchy texture without very many carbs. The lemon juice gave some flavor as well. The asparagus were very good. I was excited to find a way to eat asparagus without drenching them in butter. The olive oil mixture was very good!

I gave it a 10! Yay! My first 10. I will definitely make this meal again.

Dillon gave it a 9.5! He said he loved it, but just has to be stubborn and hold out for a true "10". I told him he should have been an olympic judge! haha

Then there's the dog, Red. He loved the chicken but was just not having the asparagus! He's not much of a vegetable eater I suppose.

All in all we had a great meal! Give it a try! I'm anxious for someone to try something and see if it turns out the same way or not.