Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Green Valley Foods

This post is sponsored by Green Valley Foods, however, I am sharing all of my own thoughts. All opinions are my own.

We’re coming up on the new year which means fresh starts and new year’s resolutions. One of the resolutions at the forefront for a lot of us is being more health conscious. And again at the forefront of ignored resolutions is that very same one getting pushed to the wayside. We go through all the excuses - it’s hard, it’s expensive, it’s time consuming. But really, it doesn’t have to be!

That’s why I’ve teamed up with Green Valley foods to show you how easy AND affordable eating organic can be. I whipped up these delicious vegetarian stuffed peppers that are also gluten free and super quick and easy to make. The whole family will love them, and they’re so simple that the kids can even get in on the fun of helping to make them.

So why Green Valley? They’re the obvious choice because all of their products are USDA organic, non-GMO, BPA-free, gluten free, and made in the USA. You can pick up the corn and black beans for this recipe at your local grocery store and not have to worry about any of it going bad because they’re both shelf stable. They’re also very affordable making it easy and reasonable to eat organic. You can even order them on Amazon. It really doesn’t get much more convenient than that!

So let’s get to it!

Here’s what you’ll need:
-4 bell peppers, halved and de-seeded
-1/2 red onion, chopped
-15.5 oz bag Green Valley Black Beans -15.25 oz can Green Valley Corn
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
-2 tbsp taco seasoning
-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese plus more -1 green onion, chopped

Instructions:

1)  Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. On a parchment lined baking sheet, bake the halvedpeppers for 15 minutes.
2)  In the meantime, strain the black beans and corn.
3)  Mix together the beans, corn, diced tomatoes, red onion, taco seasoning, and cheesetogether in a large bowl.
4)  Remove the peppers from the oven, and fill each pepper with the mixture.
5)  Top each pepper with a sprinkle of cheese, and return them to the oven for 15 minutes.
6)  Remove the peppers, and top each with green onion.
7)  Serve, and enjoy!

Let me know what you think in the comments below, and make sure to head over to http://www.welcometogreenvalley.com to learn more about all of Green Valley’s organic products.

Good Clean Summer Love Pasta Salad with Love Beets and Organic Girl

I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE me some beets and organic greens! So when Love Beets and Organic Girl let me in on their #GoodCleanSummerLove campaign, I was SO excited to play around!

Before we get into the recipe deets, let me tell you guys about this amazing contest. One lucky winner is going to win an entire year's supply of Love Beets and Organic Girl (insert heart eyes and hand raising emoji here)! I'll put the full details on how to enter at the bottom of this post, so make sure you check it out!

So back to the eats. Beets and greens scream summer to me (hence the campaign I'm guessing), and of course they both go great in a salad. But I decided I wanted to kick it up a level. What else screams summer? Grilling, corn, and pasta salads. So why not bring them all together? Trust me you want to bring them all together...

Here's What You'll Need:

-1 lb pasta, cooked (I used sprouted penne, but lentil or whole grain pastas are also great)
-2 cups Organic Girl pepper greens
-4 Love Beets organic cooked beets, chopped
-1/4 cup Organic Girl pomegranate balsamic dressing
-3/4 cup feta
-2 ears of corn
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1/4 cup pine nuts
-Sea Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Preheat your grill to medium high heat.
2) Remove the silk from the corn and pull down the husks. Coat the corn in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Replace the husks back up around the corn.
3) Grill the corn for about 20 minutes, rotating 1/4 of the way every 5 minutes.
4) Once cooked, shave the kernels off the cob using a knife.
5) Toast the pine nuts on the stove top until just golden brown (about 3-5 minutes).
6) In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, beets, pepper greens, corn, pine nuts, and feta.
7) Add in the dressing (and salt and pepper to taste) and mix completely until evenly distributed.
8) Serve and enjoy!

This pasta salad is literally like summer in side dish form. It's perfect for a picnic, bbq, or even as a meal through out the week. Let me know what you think in the comments, and make sure to check on the contest rules below.
 

Shrimp Cobb Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Shrimp has been one of my favorite foods since I was a little kid. It has a nice flavor, provides protein, and is still light and low calorie.

I knew that I had shrimp at home and was really feeling a nice salad. I started going over the things I had in my fridge and literally couldn't think of anything. Then I thought about the bacon I randomly had leftover from a couple days ago (random because I never buy bacon). Shrimp wrapped bacon? That sounds delicious but not exactly what I was looking for.

I sifted through the limited other ingredients I had lying around, and each one fit perfectly into a summer-inspired lighter cobb salad. Instead of heavy bleu cheese or ranch, I could make a nice citrus vinaigrette and cut out the cheese.

Here's What You'll Need:

For the Salad:
-4 cups of baby spinach
-10 cherry tomatoes cut into thirds
-1/2 avocado, chopped
-1 ear of corn, kernels removed from cob (or 1 small can of corn, drained)
-2 slices of bacon
-2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
-6 oz shrimp
-1/4 tsp of paprika
-salt and pepper to taste

For the Dressing:
-The juice of one lemon
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 tbsp white wine vinegar
-1/2 clove garlic, minced
-1/8 tsp oregano
-salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) If you haven't already, cook your bacon slices in a pan or microwave until they are crispy, and chop them into small pieces.
2) If you haven't already, hard boil your eggs (you may also buy them already cooked). Chopped up the eggs.
3) Add the paprika, salt, and pepper to your shrimp and cook on a grill or in a pan on the stove. If you are using pre-cooked shrimp, I still suggest adding the seasoning and just heating up the shrimp a bit using either method.
4) You can either add all the ingredients into one large bowl or split ingredients in half and serve separately.
5) Mix together the dressing ingredients, add to the salad(s), and enjoy!

If you are hesitant about the dressing, please try it! It is seriously delicious in the salad. It balances so well with the egg, shrimp, and bacon and gives just that extra bit of added flavor to this meal. Let me know what you think, and feel free to subscribe below!

Spiralized Zucchini Summer Salad with Balsamic Chicken

If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a huge fan of grilling. I'd probably be just fine (if not really happy) grilling most of my meals. It's pretty simple. You can make a delicious marinade and just let your ingredients soak it up the fridge for a bit before throwing it on the grill, or you can just add some seasoning and throw it on.  Then you flip it over a couple of times, and, voila, a delicious, flavorful meal. Plus, in the meantime, you can prepare whatever else you need for your dish.

As August is creeping by (it's somehow almost half way over), I want to utilize that grill as much as possible. I decided to use another of my favorite tools, the spiralizer, to make a fresh, summer-inspired salad.

Here's what you'll need:

-3 chicken breasts (the nutrition info accounts for 5 oz chicken breasts)
-1 1/2 large or 2 medium sized zucchini, spiralized (I used the ribbon blade but any will do)
-1/2 avocado, cubed
-1 ear of corn
-1/2 large tomato, cubed
-1/8 red onion, chopped
-1 granny smith apple, cubed
-6 tbsp feta

For the marinade:
-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
-2 tbsp spicy brown mustard
-2 tbsp lemon juice
-1 clove of garlic, minced
-A dash of Himalayan sea salt
-A dash of black pepper

For the dressing:
-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
-1 tbsp olive oil
-3 tsp spicy brown mustard
-1/2 clove of garlic, minced
-Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Mix all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl or plastic bag, add the chicken, and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes to an hour (the longer the better).
2) Heat up the grill.
3) Peel down the husk of the corn (without removing) and discard of the corn silk. Pull the husk back up to cover the corn, and toss it on the grill. The corn will cook for a total of 20-25 minutes (rotating every 5 minutes or so).
3) After about 5 minutes, add the chicken to the grill. The chicken will cook for about 7 minutes on each side.
4) In the meantime, chop up your ingredients if you haven't already done so, and make the dressing.
5) Remove the chicken and corn from the grill when they are done cooking.
6) Let the chicken sit for about 5 minutes, and then cut it into slices.
7) Cut the corn kernels off the cob.
8) You can either mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl or create individual bowls. I tend to do the latter. Add the raw zucchini noodles. Top them with apple, onion, tomato, avocado, corn, feta, and finally the chicken. Add on some dressing, and enjoy!

The mixture of the raw zucchini plus  the fresh tomatoes, apple, and onion mixed with the grilled chicken and corn is the perfect summer meal. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, and let me know what you think below! Also feel free to sign up for (free) e-mail updates on new posts.