Tuna Patty Quinoa Bowl

I have been trying to make different things for lunch since salads can get a little old after awhile. So, lately I have been on this huge Quinoa kick. Every time I mention quinoa to someone, I get a response like "Eew... but its so dull" or "it tastes like dirt!!".  Would you trust me if I ate dirt for dinner and then wrote a blog about how delicious it is?  Come on... fire me now then!  I promise you I can change your mind about quinoa if you are one of those "Negative Nancys".  It is super easy and it took me 10 minutes from start to finish with my first bite in my trapper! Swear.... Here's how!

Ingredients for Tuna Patty:

• 1 can of white albacore tuna
• 1 egg
• 1-2 tbls chopped red onion
• 1-2 tbls chopped jalapeno
• 1-2 tbls black beans
• 1 tbls quinoa flour
• 1 tbls yellow mustard
• dash of salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Coconut oil (for the pan when cooking the patty)

 Open the tuna can and drain of all of the excess water.  Place all of the tuna in a bowl and break up all of the chunks until it is shredded. 

Mix all the ingredients together and spoon divide the mixture. One can of tuna make 2 nice size patties but it made it difficult for flipping. To make it easier, make the patties small enough so they can flip without breaking. (I think I made mine too big and they fell apart a little bit when trying to be a master chef in kitchen and flipping the patty like I'm Mario Batali). 

Make sure to put enough olive oil or coconut oil in the pan so they don’t stick (about 1 tbs). Or maybe you have a nice frying pan that things don’t stick to.... I just might be due for new pans! ;)

Cook each side on medium heat for about 4 mins or until crispy brown!

Ingredients for the Quinoa Bowl:

3/4 cup cooked quinoa

chopped red pepper

chopped green pepper

chopped red onion

Sliced avocado

pepper to taste

Your choice of hot sauce: Cholula, Tapatio or Siracha (use at your desire! the spicier the better!)

Cook the Quinoa as directed on the package. What I did was cook a big batch and saved what I didn't use for dinner for lunches for the rest of the week. I love me some leftovers for easy lunch prepping throughout the week!

In this particular bowl, I left the veggies uncooked! With the quinoa being a little light on the flavor side, leaving the veggies uncooked gives the flavor of the bowl that much more flavor and freshness. Not only that, but it locks in all of the nutrients your body craves and provides more nutritional value without cooking it all out with heat!

Not sure if you knew this but.... Bell peppers are high in vitamin C, which is a water-soluble. By cooking or boiling them, the vitamins will escape!

Spicy Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Sooo, do you remember when I made the Stuffed Sweet Peppers?  Well, I tried them again and tweaked a couple of things.  I must say I was not as impressed this go around ( I should have kept my original recipe) but I was still fully satisfied with dinner and didn't eat that much. Very low carb, high in protein, and I got my helping of veggies I needed. A girl can't ask for more.... Welllll... let's not go too far!  But it's a start :)

Ran into a problem when I didn't pick the flat bottomed bell peppers...Grrrr

 Ingredients:

• 4 red bell peppers (with flat bottoms- or you will run into a messy problem!)
• 1 lb organic ground turkey
• 1 jalapeno chopped
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp taco seasoning 
• 1T mustard
• 1T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (we used gluten/wheat free)
• 1/3 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Step One:  Preheat your Oven to 375.  Mix all ingredients (aside from the bell peppers and the cheese) in a large mixing bowl.  Make sure you mix this really good so each pepper gets the combination of flavors.

Step Two:  Cut the tops of the peppers off around the top edges, stuff each pepper with the turkey meat mixture. It should turn out to be about a handful, depending on the size of the pepper... or hand :)

Step three:  Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and place your stuffed peppers on the cookie sheet.  Cook at 375 for about 50 mins.  Keep an eye on them after about 40 minutes.


Step Four:  Top off the peppers with cheddar cheese and pop back in the oven for 3-5 minutes to melt the cheese.  Enjoy this with Cholula or Tapatio hot sauce!


They turned out super good and juicy. (Although, I must say... I prefer the black beans added in the peppers and the feta cheese as the topping.)

SUPER Easy Shredded Chipotle Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have this routine every week where  I tend to plan my crock pot meals on Mondays. Who else feels like Monday is the looongest day of the week?? Well, I guess I should ask... who doesn't feel like that? I would get less of a response.  Mondays are Boo :( sometimes, so the crock pot just brightens it up by putting less on my to-do list!  

I am all for going for what is easy in the kitchen now-a-days!  I couldn't make this more simple... this was a quick prep in the middle of the day! As soon as I got home from my evening workout, it was waiting for me. It made my house smell de-lish! So, I hope you enjoy this SUPER easy crock pot chicken meal!

Talk about a close-up!

Shredded Chipotle Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:


For the chicken:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

• 8 oz fat free low sodium chicken broth

• 1/4 cup of Cholula hot sauce

• 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic

For the wraps

•  lettuce leaves, Bibb, Iceberg, or romaine

Option for your side: we made sauteed veggies with bell peppers, red onion, jalapeno, asparagus, and zucchini.


Directions:
1. In a crock pot, combine chicken, onions, garlic, 1 chipotle pepper finely chopped, and broth (enough to cover your chicken, use water if the can of  broth isn't enough). Cover and cook on high 4 hours.


2. Remove the chicken from pot, reserve 1/4 cup broth and discard the rest. Shred the chicken with two forks, return to the slow cooker with the 1/4 cup broth, the remaining sauce from the jar of chipotle peppers, and the hot sauce. Set to on high for an additional 20-30 minutes. 

2. To prepare lettuce cups, place 1/4 to 1/2 cup buffalo chicken in each leaf (depending on the lettuce you chose), top with more hot sauce, and sauteed veggies of your choice. Wrap up and start eating!

As you can see... it was paper plate night at the house :)