Low Carb Stuffed Peppers

Food mash ups. How do you feel about them?

Do they totally freak you out? Or do the love the idea of two foods in one MEGA food?

Kind of like an edible transformer. SA-WEET.

The ONLY time a mash up has done me wrong was when I watched "Epic Meal Time" on YouTube.

My eyeballs can't un-see the creations that I saw.

Anyway.

I was first turned onto the idea of taking two awesome foods and making one even-more-awesome food when I created a healthy Almond Joy cheesecake.

And proceeded to eat it EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the past 3 years.

Ya. When this girl likes something, she likes it HARD.

Of course, I couldn't eat cheesecake for ALL the meals, so I had to turn to something new. Something EXCITING.

Enter the chicken enchilada stuffed pepper. How can you go wrong with anything that uses the word "enchilada"?

You just can't.

That kept my belly happy for a while until one fateful day…

*insert suspenseful pause here*

I went to make them for dinner and I realized… I had NO chicken, rice OR enchilada sauce.

Now, correct me if I am wrong here, but it's kind of hard to make an enchilada without those three key ingredients.

So, I had to put my "creative cap" on.

You know, like Harry Potter's "invisibility cloak," just minus the invisibility part.

Moving on.

Searching through my refrigerator I found that I had a bunch of leftover ingredients from the chicken cordon bleu we had for dinner the previous night.

I also had peppers.

Stuffed chicken.. stuffed peppers.. DING DING DING.

The light bulb went off and I pranced off into the kitchen to create my next (and probably most favorite) epic mash up.

You guys, these stuffed peppers are SO easy and taste a whole lot like a chicken cordon bleu, minus all the not-so-heathy bits.

Using a little bit of cauliflower "rice" in place of regular rice keeps these babies way lower in carbs than their traditional counter parts. I also used 2% milk in place of heavy cream in the sauce. 3 cheers for health!

Side note: Don't skimp on the sauce. It's goooooood.

I have 5 more words for you:

Ooey. Gooey. Cheesy.

Do it.

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Low Carb Stuffed Peppers Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Peppers:

• 4 large red bell peppers
• pinch of salt

For the Stuffing:

• 2 1/2 cups cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 12 slices thin-cut lean deli ham, divided
• 1 1/4 cups reduced fat swiss cheese, grated and divided
• salt and pepper, to taste

For the Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon white whole wheat flour, or all purpose
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 1 cube vegetable bouillon, 1 teaspoon
• 2 teaspoons dry white wine
• 1/2 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Directions

For the Peppers:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray a small baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and gently scrape out the seeds. Cook the peppers in the boiling water until just fork tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside to dry.
3. Roughly chop 4 slices of deli ham and set aside. The remaining 8 slices will be used to line the peppers.
4. Place the chopped cauliflower into a small food processor and process until finely chopped and the cauliflower has the consistency of rice (you should have about 2 cups of cauliflower "rice.") Transfer to a medium bowl and microwave the cauliflower "rice" for 3 minutes.
5. Stir the paprika into the cooked cauliflower until evenly incorporated. Then add in 3/4 cup of the grated Swiss cheese and chopped ham. Mix until everything is evenly incorporated.
6. Place the peppers into the baking dish, cut side up. Place one slice of ham into each cut pepper.
7. Spoon the cauliflower mixture evenly between all 8 of the halved peppers, really pressing the mixture down into each. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of grated Swiss cheese.
8. Cover the peppers with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

For the Sauce:

1. While the peppers bake, melt the butter in a small sauce pan on low heat. Whisk in the flour, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth, creamy and golden brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Combine the milk, bouillon, wine, mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a small measuring cup and heat just until warm in the microwave, to help dissolve the bouillon.
3. Once the butter is smooth, whisk the milk mixture in, stirring frequently, until the sauce lightly thickens about, about 7-10 mins.
4. Spoon the sauce over the peppers and DEVOUR!

Source: Sauce adapted from food.com

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