Monday, July 9, 2012

Just Vegging Out!

Happy Veggie Week, everyone.
In preparation for the mini-challenge to do a week without meat, we took a mega-shopping trip yesterday and I am pretty sure we left no vegetable unturned. We shop at Wegmans and after yesterday's grocery load, I'm thinking we either need to find a cheaper place to get our produce or I need to sell a kidney or something. We spent a small fortune on all things healthy, and while I am grateful for the benefits that eating like this provides for my body, I am less enthusiastic with the rape and pillaging our wallet takes at the check-out counter. I've vowed to do some price comparisons this week at the local farmer stands we have scattered about our area, but I don't think they are much of a bargain either (although the produce is mostly organic, so that's a plus, yes?).

Anyway,  here is our "Vegtastic" haul for the week (bear with me - I just love the way all of the veggies look grouped together):
Talk about "vegging out!"


Loads of color!

Eggplant has become a new favorite!

Summer cherries are the best!

We even have a few home grown cherry tomatoes to add to the bounty!

Have we missed anything???

As you can see, all colors of the rainbow are pretty much represented. It's like ROYGBIV threw up right on my kitchen island! But in all honesty, I think it's really quite beautiful to behold! I've been rummaging through my cookbooks for interesting recipes and have found a few attention grabbers.

Since I have opted to include eating fish/seafood this week, I decided to make shrimp stuffed poblanos last night. What heaven!
Shrimp stuffed deliciousness.

Here is the recipe for anyone who is interested:

Shrimp Stuffed Poblanos

4 or 5 Poblano Peppers
10 oz thawed pre-cooked large shrimp, chopped into small pieces
1 cup brown rice (I used Uncle Bens 90 second rice in a bag - easy to microwave)
1 cup canned whole kernel corn - drained
1/2 red pepper chopped
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and finely diced
1/2 onion finely chopped
3 oz finely shredded colby jack or pepper jack cheese (I mixed the two kinds)
juice of 1 lime
salt
pepper
cumin
cilantro

Cut off top off peppers and de-seed them (the seeds are the hot part - so if you want some heat, keep a few seeds in the pepper).

Put peppers in boiling water for 3 mins and then blanch them in a bowl of ice water for 3 mins.
Remove from water and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients, except the poblanos. Season with salt, pepper and cumin to taste. You can also add cilantro to your taste. Juice the lime and mix all ingredients together.

Cut Poblanos in half and lay on a foil lined baking sheet.

Stuff each half pepper with the mixture. Shred just a wee bit more cheese to sprinkle on top of each pepper half.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-18 mins.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Info:
Each stuffed pepper half is only 104 calories, or a smidge more depending how much cheese you put on top. Also - only 3.4 grams of fat! They really were scrumptious. A lot of flavor and satisfaction bang for your calorie buck! You can have 3 of these and not feel guilty!

I'll be posting more recipes as I find them and make them. Hope everyone is having a good start to the week and enjoys vegging out!










6 comments:

  1. The shrimp stuffed poblanos look so good!! I'll be making those this week - for sure! Thanks for sharing the recipes....and the great pictures!

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  2. Those poblanos look so flipping good!!! Do you ever cook with quinoa? I try to use it instead of rice.

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  3. I've never seen poblanos. Are they spicy? I know the colors of the rainbow fruits and veggies are awesome.
    We had meatless spaghetti for lunch today with the wheat noodles the kids are not thrilled with but eat because Julie's say is "you get what you get and you don't pitch a fit". However they got to have some regular noodles mixed in with theirs.
    Thanks for sharing your recipe, just might have to give them a try with the peppers I have here.
    Take care and have a great and blessed week!

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  4. I adore poblanos! I will give that recipe a try! Love the rainbow of veggies and fruits!

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  5. Love the photos of the veggies - such gorgeous color!
    That recipe sounds yummy - will have to try.
    I've got a few quick and delicious (if I do say so myself) recipes on my site {tab at the top of the page} that may help you along with veggie week!

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  6. Ooh, all that produce makes my mouth water! As a vegetarian (no meat of any kind) on a strict budget, some of my saving graces are shopping the produce sales (even if it means trying something weird, and/or new to me), and buying frozen veggies regularly. I roast frozen veggies all the time and can't tell much of a quality difference from the fresh.

    For example, this week fresh cherries were on sale so they went in the cart. I never buy them if they aren't on sale (hello, $7 a pound in season? I don't think so!!). However, neither artichokes nor avocados were on sale this week, so I stocked up on spinach and summer squash (both on sale), instead.

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