Spicy Grouper

• Place grouper fillets in a baking dish.
• Sprinkle with garlic powder, chili powder, salt, & pepper
• Cover with fresh salsa
• Top with fresh jalapenos
• Back at 375 for about 15 - 20 minutes
• While baking, heat a can of black beans on the stove top and cook a bag of 5 minutes boil-in-a-bag rice.
• Plate rice, then top with black beans, grouper, salsa, hot sauce
• DELICIOUS!!!! If you don't want the added carbs, remove the rice like I did! :)

Shrimp & Crab Pasta

• I sauteed a bag of peel-and-eat shrimp with cooking spray and garlic. Then I took my portion out and placed in another pan. I added butter, a little more garlic, spinach, and crab meat to the pot and sauteed a bit longer. Mine was the same, but still with no butter!
• At the same time I had a pot of spaghetti noodles going.
• When it was all finished, I plated the pasta and covered it with the shrimp & crab, garlic-butter mixture for the fam. Mine was paired with 1/2 a cucumber and a 1/2 cup baked asparagus.
• Lastly, I sprinkled everything with a bit of feta cheese.

SIMPLE - SCRUMPTIOUS - SATISFYING!!!!! :)

Breakfast Pods (for dinner)

We like to have "breakfast for dinner" every once in awhile, but this could be a big breakfast hit too! It's an idea I got from the pinterest website and mine don't look as perfect as the ones I saw pictured...maybe the next time they will since I know what to do now.

1. Spray a muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Cut pieces of bread to fit inside. The original directions said to cut with a circular cookie cutter. I didn't have one so I cut the crusts off into a square. Cut into two triangles and push them into the muffin pan slots.
3. Now you can either add the bacon and egg OR...add some other ingredients. In two of mine I add two slices of Roma tomatoes and some spinach. You have to push them all the way down so the egg fits in. After you add your veggies, place the bacon in the bread cup.
4. Now add the egg to the top. The ones I originally saw were all perfect white and yolk sitting happily at the top. My kids DO NOT eat eggs that way so I scrambled two for theirs.
5. Bake @ 375 for about 20 minutes.

• The one pictured in the middle...you know, the one that looks gigantic compared to the rest, that one is actually made with quinoa flakes instead of bread. Yep, that ones mine since I can't eat bread. I found quinoa flakes at a farmers market. Mixed with about 1 tbls spoon almond milk and pushed that into the muffin cup instead of bread. It worked! It was delicious!
• Other things you may want to add into your cup: feta cheese, shredded cheese, mushrooms, jalapenos, onions...or anything else that sounds good to you!
• This was super easy! Super fun for my 7 year old! And delicious!
• I recommend you try it with the quinoa flakes - great source of protein!

Fiesta Grouper

Tonight's dish had the hubs asking for more and then saying, "That's a definite do-over!" (meaning, PLEASE make that one again)! Also, another super quick meal.

Grouper:

• Place grouper fillets in a baking dish.
• Brush with butter and lemon juice mixture.
• Sprinkle with garlic, chili powder, parsley, and salt.
• Slice a jalapeno pepper and place on the top of each fillet.
• Bake or broil @ 350 for about 10 - 15 minutes.
• Heat black beans in a separate pan.
• Make a boil-in-a-bag rice pouch.

I mixed mild, fresh salsa in with the black beans for a fiesta flavor. Take away the rice for less carbs. ENJOY!

Rosemary Chicken

*EASY*QUICK*

• chicken breasts
• fresh rosemary
• thyme

Place chicken in a baking dish. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary and thyme. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes.

I paired this with a fresh salad, Italian asiago & garlic dressing, and artisan jalapeno flat bread.

Everyone else had salad and cheesy chive mashed potatoes.

This one is perfect for a VERY BUSY night!

cheesy stuffed sweet mini peppers

Are you looking for the perfect appetizer to take along to all those upcoming holiday parties? This one is healthy, quick, and sure to be a hit!

ingredients:

• low fat cream cheese
• 1 - 2 tbls fresh chives (I like chives so I probably added more than needed)
• 1 tbls fat free milk
• 1 low fat mozzarella cheese stick (or mozzarella cheese - I just had the sticks handy)
• about 20 sweet mini peppers

1. Cut the tops off the peppers. Set aside.
2. In a food processor combine cream cheese, chives, milk, cheese stick.
3. Fill a Ziploc baggie with the cheese mixture.
4. Cut the corner off of the baggie and squeeze mixture into each pepper.
5. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.
6. Serve immediately.

I tried these 3 different ways and liked all 3. So, if taking them to a party, here are different ways you can try.

1. Fill with cheese and serve without cooking.
2. Serve immediately after cooking or heat up in microwave just before serving.
3. Cook. Let cool. Take to party and serve after cooled.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Tonight is a winner for ME!!! No one in my household likes stuffed peppers so I don't usually make them. However, I went to this AWESOME farmer's market last weekend and the veggies were so cheap. I purchased several large sweet peppers - red, yellow, & orange. I wasn't sure what I wanted to stuff them with so I started scouring over many stuffed pepper recipes on the Internet. Each recipe had either something I'm not allowed to eat, or something I didn't like, or something I didn't have in the kitchen (and I didn't want to make a trip to the store). So I began to search the kitchen and create my own stuffed peppers. Here's what I did...

• Pre heat oven to 350
• Sauteed 1 medium red onion & 4 cups chopped fresh spinach
• added in 1 cup quinoa & 1 1/2 cups water until it boiled
• covered and simmered for 20 minutes
• added 1 can white chicken breast and mixed it all up
• cut & gutted 6 sweet peppers
• filled the peppers with the quinoa/chicken mixture
• Put tops of peppers back on top of each pepper. Then put peppers in a baking dish.
• Cooked them for about 45 minutes
• I sprinkled the top of each with fiesta cheese just because every recipe I looked at added a LOT of cheese to the quinoa mixture, but I didn't want to add the calories. The cheese didn't even make a difference. I wouldn't add it again. But if you love cheese, throw a cup in the mix!

The peppers not only tasted tremendous, they were gorgeous!!!! I will definitely have to make them again. (maybe when guests are here so I'm not eating them by myself) :)