Meg's Meals...plus Stuffed Peppers, RP Style

I've always been a big advocate of meal prep (going back to way before I started this blog however many years ago). It's not that difficult, it just takes some planning and a chunk of time to devote to it. An added challenge when doing RP is being able to keep track of your macros and tweaking things to make it "fit". I'm working on trying to figure out how to offer my services (Meg's Meals?) for meal prep in a way that a) I won't go crazy and still enjoy doing it for my own family b) it makes it worth my time and c) is streamlined and simplified. In doing so, I've enlisted the help of a few guinea pigs at my box to test out recipes. Today's meal is an updated version of the Stuffed Peppers I used to do while we were deep into Paleo.  Let me know how you like it!

Stuffed Peppers, RP Style

Makes 8
Each pepper: 404 calories/34P/56C (46net)/9F

8 green bell peppers, tops cut off and de-seeded
1.5 lbs 93% lean ground beef
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
4 oz yellow onion, chopped
4 oz celery, chopped
4 oz can mushrooms, drained
2 cups riced cauliflower
16 oz sweet potato, peeled, boiled and mashed (helps to bind mixture)
1.25 cups reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese

Cut tops off of bell peppers and de-seed (I chop up the tops and save them for other uses). Fill a large pot with about 1 inch of water and place peppers in (cut side up). Bring to a boil and steam for about 5 minutes. Remove from pot and slice each pepper in half (you might need to let it cool first) and place in casserole dish.

Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a large saucepan. Season with spices and add onions, celery, mushrooms, and cauliflower. Saute until soft and then add mashed sweet potato.

Fill each pepper half with 3 oz of filling and top with 18g of cheese (if you're not counting macros, then you don't have to be so exact). At this point you can cover and refrigerate until you're ready to eat 'em. Back at 350 for about 20 minutes, until filling is heated through and cheese is melted (probably longer if they've been refrigerated, but keep an eye on the cheese).

I served mine with roasted red onions and broccoli (lightly mist with coconut cooking spray, S&P, garlic powder). If you need to add fats, guacamole would be really good added to them!

Veggie Packed Meatloaf with Parsley Pesto "Spaghetti"

Okay, so it's been waaaaaaay too long since I posted on here, but we're starting the New Year off right.  A few days in and I have a new recipe.  Tonight's dinner is this:

Veggie Packed Meatloaf


1 zucchini
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 baked sweet potato
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 egg
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1lb lean ground beef, preferably organic
1/4 c coconut flour

Preheat oven to 375.  In a food processor, mince zucchini, onion, garlic, sweet potato, parsley, egg, salt and pepper.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into a large bowl and add ground beef and mix well.  Add coconut flour (for binding).  Stir well and pat into a loaf baking pan.  Bake at 375 for about 1hr15min, or until browned on top and done.

Parsley Pesto


1 cup fresh parsley
1 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend until smooth in a food processor.

"Spaghetti"


Poke a couple of holes in a spaghetti squash with a knife, put it on a pan and bake it at 375 for one hour.  When it's done, cut off the stem part and then cut it in half, lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds and then separate the "spaghetti" with a fork.

Pretty Awesome Stuffed Peppers with Guacamole

My sister in law makes an awesome stuffed pepper recipe (passed down from my mother in law) and I miss them!  This is what I came up with, minus the cheese, rice and black beans of course.  And they were delicious!

Stuffed Peppers

4 bell peppers

1 lb ground beef (the best quality you can find, but it doesn't matter about the fat content)
S&P
Garlic and onion powders
1 onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
1 cup mushrooms (I used a 4 oz can of organic mushrooms because that's what I had on hand, but fresh would be ideal)
1 mashed sweet potato (to bind everything together a bit better)
1 cup chunky salsa (sugar free)
2 cups "riced" cauliflower (chop cauliflower florets in the food processor until rice-like)

Cut tops off of bell peppers and de-seed (I chop up the tops and put them in a baggie and freeze it for another recipe).  Place them in about 1 inch of water in a pot and cover.  Bring to a boil and steam for about 5 minutes.  Remove to a casserole dish.

Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a medium saucepan.  Season with S&P, garlic and onion powders and add onion and celery.  Saute until soft.  Add rest of ingredients until well combined.

Place filling in prepared peppers (at this point, you can refrigerate them until you're ready to eat 'em).  Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.  Top with guacamole.

Guacamole
2 ripe avocados, mashed
1/2 lemon
S&P
garlic and onion powder

Combine until seasoned to your taste.