Stuffed Banana Peppers

I have not been cooking lately. My dissertation is due in TWO WEEKS and I have been writing and freaking out a lot. Add to that the well over 90 degree temps here and I have not been very hungry. However, I have been trying to use up produce as I buy it so it doesn't go to waste.

This is one of my very favorite things: stuffed banana peppers. These are ALL OVER western New York, but are nowhere to be found down south. Now that my husband knows that I know how to make them it's hard to get him to stop asking for these. I added vegetarian sausage to this batch and it was delightful!



Stuffed Banana Peppers
4 banana peppers
1/4 tube veggie sausage
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/8 cup bread crumbs (more if you need it)

Cut the peppers open and remove the guts. You can microwave them for a minute or two after they are emptied to make them easier to stuff. Just cool them for a bit afterwards.

Saute the veggie sausage, and when browned add the cream cheese and mix. Add everything else and there you go. Stuff into peppers (not your mouth)

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes depending on your desired level of done-ness.

I served these with some tilapia I breaded with bread crumbs, Parmesan and Italian seasoning after dipping it in an egg-white wash. Also my fave roasted asparagus!

Very simply, very quick dinner. Now back to proofreading!!!!

1/4 cup

>:-( I hate grad school

Writing your dissertation is stupid.




That is all.

Green Day

Woo wee - I am so pooped. It is so hot here in NC I can't even stand it. Not sure how I've made it through 5 summers without dying. I like to eat light in the summer - so I did just that today.

Before my workout today I needed a little snack. I sliced up some zucchini (I LOVE raw zucchini) and plopped on some hummus. Once you start making your own hummus you can never go store bought again. It's just so simple and so CHEAP. I've made THIS recipe from Oh She Glows one or two times before. The only difference is that I used canned chickpeas. I have bad luck making beans on my own. they always come out tough! This time I added a handful of spinach and it came out green and tasty.



A glimpse into my life: snacks, my laptop, reviewer comments, advisor comments, my dissertation minimized while I watch Twilight trailors :-)

For dinner I made an old favorite. I seriously love this recipe. And I have sauce left over that I will likely put over a green bowl!

I made it a little differently tonight, but still, check out the old link to see pictures of cute little Dylan. :-)



Green Pasta
1 red onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp olive oil
Na++ and Pepper
1 container Nayasoya silken tofu
1/2 cup parsley
1/2 cup basil
Na++ and Pepper

Same as before - boil water. Heat over to 450- Rub onion and garlic with oil and salt and pepper. Wrap onion and garlic in tin foil and bake for 20 minutes. This is perfect timing to boil you water and make your pasta.

When the 20 minutes are up- put the tofu, spices and salt and pepper into a food processor and blend away. So good - even the carnivorous husband loved it (though he didn't remember the past 15 times I've made it for him). To top my day off I had some vanilla avocado and banana ice cream a la Averie from Love Veggies Yoga. No picture since mine is ugly- but it is so so so so so so good! Make some!

Now time to rest - I am beat!

Jar of oatmeal

Today I felt like I had gotten punched in the head when it was time to wake up. I still kind of feel like that - put together the 93 degree heat yesterday with my intense sunburn and I feel like every ounce of strength has been sucked from my body. This sucks because today starts summer shape up by Gina over at the Fitnessista. My workouts have been totally crappy lately so I am looking forward to doing some different stuff to break out of this rut. I tried her spring abs workout Saturday AM and it was intense! Nice and short and intense. I hate hanging around the gym forever! Unless I am avoiding something - like work - then I will stay all day.

But seeing as my dissertation is due to my committee in EXACTLY ONE MONTH I don't have time to avoid writing.... crap I should stop blogging about breakfast and get my life together.

Anyway - I love the idea of oats in a jar. Kath does them a lot - and given my extreme love of peanut butter they definitely help me get out of bed in the morning.



Monday Oats
Almost empty reduced fat peanut butter jar
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tsp chia seeds
1/2 large banana chopped
shake cinnamon
shake splenda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup fat free plain greek yogurt

Mix everything together in the jar and leave it overnight. Easy enough, right?

Umm yum. So filling. So good. Serve with a side of 5 cups of coffee for hallucinogenic purposes. (Weird science - give me that PhD instead).

Ok I'm going to digest, write some dissertation crap, and head to the gym for Summer WO number 1. Yay!

Desserts and MUSSELS

Since I have been eating seafood - I've been having non-veg meals about 2-3 times a week. These mussels were super easy to throw together and the broth can be tweaked considerable to meet your needs/likes/wants/desires. When my friend came to visit recently she threw these together with heavy cream and red curry paste. I wanted a non-cream version and came up with these.

MUSSELS
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup white wine
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup flat parsley
1 tsp lemon zest
1 pound mussels

Heat a nice large dutch-over type contraption on your stove.

You know the drill- heat the oil - add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook for a minute of two longer. Add the wine, try not to cry at the non drinkable portion you just put into food. Pour yourself a a glass to minimize sadness. Add lemon juice, and half of parsley and zest.

Dump the mussels in and cover. They will open in 6-8 minutes. DON'T EAT THE ONES THAT DIDN'T OPEN. Just throw them out. They lived a full bivalve life- it's okay. Portion into 4 bowls and top with remaining parsley and zest, Yum.



I used a full cup of wine... I know, I know... that's a lot. But they taste great - so just pour it in and look the other way. Or just put your face over the smoke the wine creates and get really drunk. Just kidding. Don't do that. You also shouldn't pour vodka over the stones in a sauna for a buzz. That is bad also.

On the side is a couscous salad based on one of Angela's recipes. Just israeli couscous, red pepper, cucumber, and garbanzo beans in a dressing of cilantro, olive oil and lime juice (and a splash of balsamic).

You may also spy some chilled cucumber soup in a tiny little bowl. If you've never made this you should really give it a try. All you need is a food processor, a large cuke (half peeled, half not), and about a cup of plain greek yogurt. I usually use dill- but I used cilantro and parsley since I already had some on hand. Add some salt and pepper at the end and use whatever spices you like. Add more yogurt to thin out if you wish - but I like it thicker. You just put all the ingredients together and blend. So easy and also low in calories. I love cucumber.


I made another batch of healthy cookie bites. I love these things so much. So healthy and 59 calories! YAY! These are the only baked good I make - I put two in my lunch every day and they are such a nice sugar-free treat :-)



Speaking of healthy - I just made myself some cherry banana soft serve. SO GOOD. And it's basically just a banana. But so decadent!!!



Off to bum around- I need to get some sleep. My aunt drove through last night and wanted to head to see some blues music. She got in at 11 - so I was up WAY late - we ate pizza and watched scary shows and talked until 3:23 on the dot. Then she woke up at 8:00! Oh boy- I'm exhausted!

Gazpacho and Bean Burritos

Today has been totally lame in the science way. Around noon I got an e-mail from my advisor telling me a recently submitted paper had been rejected. The e-mail contained reviewer comments - which he asked me to go ahead and handle for the next draft of my dissertation that is DUE WEDNESDAY. That's almost now. So I was cruising along, trying to finish up all of my corrections for him, and got this curveball thrown at me. In addition, he asked that I address the comments for a resubmission before I defend, which is July 20th. SO my diss. is due July 6th, I defend the 20th, and somewhere in between there I have to rewrite a paper, prepare my public defense, start packing up my house.. I don't even want to go on.

I just had to get up right that second and go for a walk downtown for a few minutes to clear my head and calm down. It will all get done... it's just a stretch. A big one.

Anyway- food today was good. I was hungry almost every second of the day- so I will have to add some snacks tomorrow so that I don't feel like I am about to die at 4:30 like today.

Breakfast - egg whites with salsa verde. Green smoothie - banana, strawberry, greek yogurt, lots of spinach and some almond milk.




Lunch - some tuna salad boats with this tuna salad.




Dinner- Gazpacho and Burritos.

I wanted to make these today since I had leftover guacamole from yesterday. However, when my husband got home from the gym he fixed that issue - so we were Guac-less.

The Gazpacho is Angela's recipe. So, so, so good and simple. Great flavors. This will be added to my tuna boat lunches!



And because of the debacle this morning/afternoon/whenever it was - I made true emergency bean burritos.

Bean Burritos - the fastest and easiest ever
1/2 sliced onion
1 clove garlic
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chile powder
Na++ and pepper
4 large whole wheat tortillas
1 can fat free refried beans
1 cup shredded low-fat cheese
Salsa

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a pan with some cooking spray and add onion and garlic. Saute for a few minutes and add frozen veggies. Add cilantro once the veggies are thawed. Add spices. Done.

Put 1/4 can refried beans on the middle of each tortilla. Top with 1/4 cup cheese. Top with veggies. Roll up. Bake for 15 minutes at 350. Garnish with salsa. So fast, so easy, so good.



Now I really need to get to work!

Fish tacos

I have been on my husband's case lately because he is always talking about how he LOVES to grill - and how he is just the best at it - and he can grill ANYTHING. Oddly enough, I never catch him actually grilling anything. He'd much rather wait for me to make something - no matter how un-meaty it may happen to be. Last week when I made this nice seafood dinner - I mentioned how the entire meal could have been grilled. He got the hint and we eventually came to the agreement that he would start preparing 1 meal per week. He took this seriously for about 15 minutes and started doing some "meal planning"

He came out of the office the other day with a grilling cookbook he got as a wedding gift. He found a recipe for fish tacos and started reading it aloud to me. The ingredient lost was 500 items long, and the prep time was about 4.5 days. It was a little too ambitious for somebody who hasn't touched food since way back when he was single.



My sister-in-law consequently posted a recipe for fish tacos on her blog that sounded much simpler. As the two filets of tilapia defrosted for a full 4 days, I appealed to the husband to simplify the recipe. We used the marinade listed above - just some lime juice, olive oil and jerk seasoning. A LOT easier than what he was originally planning. He even had the foresight to smoke some hickory chips to add to our charcoal grill. The fish was so smoky and delicious.


To garnish:
whole wheat tortillas
romaine lettuce
quartered cherry tomatoes
shredded cheese
Cholula
Mango Guacamole. Mmmmmmmmmmmm x 1000


On the side: refried black beans
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 seeded jalapeno, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp red wine (why the hell not, right?)
1 can black beans - with juices
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Saute garlic and onions until soft-ish. Add jalapeno and saute a minute or so more. Add the cumin and saute until the smell is so overwhelming you can barely breathe (about 30 seconds). Add the wine - magic! No more suffocation! Add the can of black beans and turn heat to LOW. Simmer about 15-20 minutes- they will be nice and CREAMY. Add cilantro and love them.


The verdict? Everything was great! Well, I also did everything except smoke the fish. But it's a start, right? Now it's time to solve some cases with Mulder. I just saw this scene.


I am lucky.