Veggie Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Peppers

Philly Cheesesteak

So this isn't really steak, I suppose you could use chopped steak if you had it on hand. I used ground beef for this and it's amazing. I made it and then my mom made it a few nights later she liked it so much.

Philly Cheesesteak 

1 lb. ground beef 

1 white onion, chopped into strips

1 green bell pepper, diced

Cheese sauce:

2 slices provolone cheese

4-5 slices Cooper cheese

1/3 c. unsweetened unflavored coconut milk (I like SO Delicious brand- green container)

garlic powder

bit of salt

fresh ground black pepper

In a cast iron skillet, caramelize the onions almost fully. You'll need a bit of butter or oil. Add in the peppers when it's almost done. Let cook for another few minutes. Remove from pan. 

Brown and break up ground beef. While the beef is cooking, place all cheese sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat while stirring until all ingredients are melted. It may take a while, but it will happen. Adjust the amount of cheese and coconut milk if you like. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread beef evenly over the bottom of the skillet. Top evenly with cooked onion and peppers. Pour over the cheese sauce. Bake until bubbly. 

Cheesy Zucchini Bake

This is so simple and easy, but tastes and looks (with a little effort) amazing.

Cheesy Zucchini Bake

I made this a while back and kinda threw stuff into a pan so I'm gonna try to remember what I put into it. Measurements aren't going to be exact.

Slice up a large zucchini (or yellow squash) or two, and either layer it in the pan as shown, or just toss it in there. I won't judge you. Grease the baking dish before you put the zucchini in.

In a small sauce pot combine a few slices of Cooper cheese, a splash of heavy cream, some parmesan cheese (1/4 cup?), some butter (about a Tbsp), and some italian spices (Basil, oregano, parsley, black pepper, salt, & onion powder). Also add in some minced garlic or garlic powder. Cook, stirring over medium heat until all ingredients are combined. Carefully pour it over the zucchini slices. Top with some more parm and bake at 350 F until top is golden brown and sauce has thickened. 

Roasted Tomato Arugula Personal Pizza and Bacon Dijon Spinach Melt

There are so many things you can do with low carb tortillas. You can make a quesadilla, a pizza, a "crepe", a wrap, pinwheels, and tortilla chips. They're super versatile, and you can use one as a base for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. I've made so many different types of pizza using a tortilla, this is just one example. Personal pizzas are a good way to use up leftover veggies or meats left in the fridge. A few days ago I made Alex a sauteed mushroom and baby spinach pizza. He loved it. This one is a roasted tomato and arugula pizza, made using leftovers from the salad. (No I didn't keep the salad this long, the picture is from nearly a month ago.)

Roasted Tomato Arugula Personal Pizza

 Ingredients:

1 low carb tortilla (Tumaro's)
1/4 c. low sugar pasta sauce
1 handful mozzarella cheese
1 handful chopped baby arugula
a few roasted tomatoes, packed in oil, cut up
sprinkle of feta cheese (I used a French sheep's milk feta, you don't have to be that fancy)
Italian spices (oregano, basil, parsley)

Spread the cheese over the tortilla. Sprinkle on mozzarella. Add next 3 ingredients. Sprinkle on the spices. Bake in the toaster oven or oven (probably 350 F will do it) until edges crisp and cheese is melted.

You can do this little pizza with whatever you have on hand, veggies, meat, etc.

Bacon Dijon Spinach Melt

Ingredients:

2 slices bacon

several slices of Cooper or White American Cheese

1 handful of baby spinach. 

1 tsp. to 1 Tbsp. of dijon mustard, depending on preference

1 tortilla

Fry bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and allow to cool a bit. Lay tortilla in bacon grease. Cover with Cooper cheese. Tear up the baby spinach as you put that on top. Coat the spinach with the mustard using a fork to carefully mix it. Add fresh ground black pepper if you wish. Chop up bacon and sprinkle on top. Fold tortilla in half carefully and flip over. When the tortilla is golden brown and crispy, remove from pan and serve. Makes a meal for one or a snack for two.

Valerie's Roasted Tomato Arugula Salad

My boss gave me 10 clamshells of baby arugula to demo/sell the other day. I was like, "Nobody likes arugula, what the hell am I gonna do with this stuff?" Then, my brilliant coworker Valerie suggested a roasted tomato-feta salad she made for company a while back. So I went over to the cheese department and they gave me Noah's Valley Israeli Feta cheese. It's a very fresh feta that's very creamy, and unfortunately we are discontinuing it. :( So, any fresh, high quality feta will do. This recipe has no dressing, which shocked my customers. Instead, the herbed oil that the tomatoes are packed in mixes with the creamy feta to create a faux dressing that my customers drooled over, and for good reason too. So this 3 ingredient salad sold all of our organic arugula, TWO kinds of feta (the one I mentioned and a French feta), and I sold so many roasted tomatoes they had to pull out the frozen stuff in the back! So, hit recipe, EVEN IF YOU HATE ARUGULA, which many of my customers do.

~5 oz. clamshell/bag of baby arugula
4-6 oz. French Sheep's Milk Feta or the Noah's Valley (or any other good quality feta you can find)
3.5 oz. Wegmans Italian Classics Roasted Tomatoes (packed in olive oil, garlic, and herbs), chopped up

Combine all ingredients in a bowl just before serving. Make sure to use that yummy oil from the tomatoes,  it's basically the dressing. Garnish with a bit of freshly ground black pepper. If you need to transport this, put the tomatoes on the bottom, then the cheese, then the arugula on top so it doesn't get soggy.

If you don't have a Wegmans near you, one: I'm very sorry, two: you can use some canned tomatoes. Try to get the fire-roasted ones that have some sort of basil, garlic, or other italian spices in them. You'll want to add your own extra virgin olive oil to the salad.

Tuscan Pork Roast with Port Glaze

Pork Roast

• 1 to 1.5 lb. pork roast
• Tuscan spice mix/seasoning/rub (if you can't find this, it's basically garlic and onion powder, lots of parsley, salt, sage, and black pepper)
• Herbs de Province
• poultry seasoning
• salt to taste

Place the roast in a cast iron pan, and sprinkle on some poultry seasoning. Rub so that it covers the top and sides. Sprinkle over the herbs de province and the Tuscan spice mix. Pour some non EV olive oil into the pan around the roast. Using tongs, sear the meat on medium high on the bottom, sides, and then top (yes some spices will fall off, that's fine). Turn back onto the bottom again to coat that side with the spices that fell off of the top. Finish in the oven at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until pork is cooked in the middle.

Port Wine Glaze

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 c. sweet port
• dash of salt
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 squirt orange mio (optional)
• 2 packets Splenda

Combine all ingredients in a nonstick pan and simmer until combined and reduced by 2/3 or more, stirring occasionally with a silicone spatula.  Allow to cool slightly. If it's thickened up, it's ready. It should be shiny and deep in color. 

UPDATED! Crab Bisque

1 can Wegmans Italian Classics Diced Tomatoes, undrained
2 red bell peppers (or red and orange)
1 Tbsp. Old Bay
1 32 oz. container Kitchen Essentials Fish/Seafood Stock
1.5 c. heavy cream
2 6 oz. cans crabmeat (I used Trader Joe's)
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. onion powder

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a pan with foil. Wash the peppers and cut out the stems and seeds. Slice them from top to bottom, like this:

and lay them flat as possible on the foil. Roast until skins crack and start to peel. Blackened spots are fine. Remove from oven, turn the oven off, and use a butter/dinner knife to scrape off the skins when the peppers are cool enough to handle. Discard skins. Rough chop the peppers until they fit into your Ninja or food processor. To the Ninja/processor, add the tomatoes (undrained), Old Bay, crabmeat (be careful of potential paper), minced garlic, and onion powder. Process until smooth. Pour contents into a soup pot. Add fish/seafood stock and bring to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how much time you have. When time's up, add in the cream and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste.