Sweet Pepper Tuna Cucumbers

I do best with a protein-rich diet when I'm trying to lose weight and I wanted to incorporate a generous dose of veggies, so I threw this together for lunch. It's certainly nice to look at, and it shares some qualities with a really good canape recipe given to me by my friend Melissa.

Sweet Pepper Tuna Cucumbers
2 mini sweet peppers, sliced

1 very large cucumber, sliced
1 small can of Tuna, drained
1 1/2 T low fat cream cheese, softened
1 rounded t capers
1/2 t minced onion
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t pepper

In a bowl, mix together the drained tuna and softened cream cheese, add capers and onion, then add in all the spices and mix until thoroughly blended. Drop the blended mixture onto cucumber slices, place one slice of sweet pepper on top, then garnish with more chili powder for extra flavor and color if desired. Chill in the fridge until cold, then serve.

Ratings from the Experts*: My hubby's not a big tuna fan, so I took the burden upon myself to eat every last one of these as I sat here writing this post. What a burden it was... I kid, I kid! I give this a solid 9/10 for the fact that it's a tiny bit salty but I think that could be remedied by simply washing the capers and rubbing them off before adding to the mix. But the mix itself was a good blend. The chili powder really gave it a nice flavor and brought it all together.

Cheese and Turkey Stuffed Mini Peppers

I have been recovering from abdominal surgery, so I haven't been able to cook much at all (Dr.'s orders... I promise!) Instead I've been stuffing my face with far too much food generosity from my in-laws, and eating out more than I should since I haven't felt much like cooking. I've gained about 5 lbs I think and I've about had it... so it's back on the healthy eating bandwagon today so I don't feel so much like an overstuffed Italian sausage. These little beauties are my new obsession (the peppers, that is). They are Mini sweet bell peppers and they are so great for me since I love bell pepper but can't ever seem to use a whole pepper in a dish. And they also make gorgeous little finger food like this!

I wanted a pop of protein, so I grabbed some cream cheese and roasted turkey lunchmeat from the fridge. The following is the result.

Cheese and Turkey Stuffed Mini Peppers
2 T. Cream cheese
3 mini peppers
2 slices, thinly sliced oven roasted turkey (Land o' Frost is what I used)
1/8 t. garlic salt
1/4 t. Italian seasoning

Slice the tops off the mini peppers and remove any seeds from the interior. Cut the slices of turkey into three portions and stuff one portion in each of the three peppers. In a small bowl or measuring cup, mash together cream cheese with the seasonings until well blended. Smear generous amounts of cream cheese mixture into the peppers on top of the turkey, be sure to fill them to the top! Now, enjoy.


Ratings from the Experts*: 10/10 from me, for snacking it's a filling, healthy snack that packs a healthy protein punch in addition to a nice serving of veggies.

Day 1: A Fresh Gluten-Free Start....Black Bean and Chicken Tacos with Cabbage & Lime Dressing

I broke down. I couldn't stay away much longer or my hubby would have gone on a hunger strike. I haven't exactly been cooking all that much since starting this journey into Gluten-Free territory over 2 months ago. Truth be told I'm still adjusting to the whole having-to-read-every-label-on-the-earth thing. And I still misstep often and end up in agony sometimes but at least now I know what it's from! I have been diagnosed as severely Gluten-Intolerant and I'm still in the process of a diagnosis for Celiac Disease.

Anyway... back to my reason for posting, I was inspired once again by my organic food goodies. I get a nice little 'recipes of the week' list with my bag of goodies and saw this recipe, and I was immediately intrigued. The ingredients were eclectic and happened to include cabbage which I'd been debating for weeks how to use, so I decided to give it a whirl. Except I added my own twist... like I always seem to do. The chicken wasn't in the original recipe and I had some left over from a previous meal that I needed to use, and I'm allergic to Cilantro, so I replaced the original call for Cilantro with chopped Parsley. (Sorry for the cruddy image quality. This was a posting on a whim and pictures weren't taken in natural light, so I'm claiming that as my excuse.)

Black Bean and Chicken Tacos with Cabbage & Lime Dressing
What you'll need:
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained
1/2 c. shredded chicken
1/2 t. ground cumin
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 T fresh lime juice
2 c chopped cabbage
2 green onions, chopped
1/3 c chopped fresh parsley
4 white or yellow corn tortillas
1/3 c crumbled feta cheese

Place beans and cumin in small bowl; partially mash. Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl; add cabbage, green onions, and parsley and toss in a large Ziploc bag, shaking until well coated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 teaspoons olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas in single layer. Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture and a 1/4 of shredded chicken onto half of each tortilla; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Fill tacos with feta and cabbage mixture. Pass hot sauce alongside. 

Ratings from the Experts*: For me, 10/10. These tacos rival one of my favorite local restaurant's puffy tacos and have a richer flavor than most traditional tacos.

Hubby agreed with me because what he could taste was good, but rendered himself incapable of voting due to a stuffy nose. (Wonderful Oklahoma Weather).

Day 6: Healthy Trail Mix

I found out we're making a bit of an unexpected road trip to Dallas this weekend through next week for my husband's work. Since I'm becoming more conscious about healthy food, I came to the succinct conclusion that Convenience Store Gourmet is not going to cut it for snacks. I did a little searching online searching for inspiration and came upon suggestions for trail mix, but I hate the sodium content in many of the processed trail mixes, so I made my own.


Healthy Trail Mix
What you'll need:
1 1/2 c granola or rice based cereal (I used Aldi's GetBalance Crunch)
1 c Cheerios
1 1/2 c Corn Chex
1 c Almonds
1 c Dried mixed berries (strawberries, cranberries, blueberries)
1 c Semi-Sweet chocolate chips

Put in a large container, shake until well mixed.

Rating from the Experts*: For a much healthier mix, no added salt, and some good sweet stuff I give it a 10/10. If my husband is any indication, he immediately came over and dipped his hand into the tupperware container and started scarfing it down, eliciting sounds of approval.