Summer Salads

I love salads in the summertime. This summer I made several salads over the summer, but this was one of my favorites - and one that I plan to repeat... and repeat.

 

 

My salad contained: lettuce, chick peas, bell peppers, shrimp, peas, and probably other things that I love... It's been a few weeks, so I've forgotten some of my ingredients. Get that fresh stuff out and and make a salad!

{I may have said this before, but the easiest way to put together a delicious salad - or stir-fry - is to stop by the salad bar at the store and pick up the pre-cut veggies to save lots of time}

[Taco] Stuffed Bell Peppers

The other night my friend came over and we made dinner... she had ingredients in her head, but not exact measurements - but how can you mess up stuffed peppers? So, we went for it. This is our recipe, whether it was correct or not, it was rather tasty...

Serves: 4 (or 2 with leftovers)
[disclaimer :: could easily be made for one by reducing the recipe]

Ingredients:
 
2 cans of corn (drained)
1 block of cream cheese
1/2 jar of salsa

2 bags of instant spanish rice
1 can of black beans

4 green bell peppers, tops off and gutted


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the peppers upright in a pan. Mix together the first set of ingredients in another pan. Place both in the oven, stirring the mixture occasionally as cream cheese softens. (I think we stirred 3-4 times)

Cook the rice. Drain the beans. Mix the two together.

When everything is finished cooking (about 20 - 30 minutes -- let's be honest, I was more interested in our conversation than the cook time... but you can gauge it by the corn mixture - it should be warm,  easily stirred, and completely mixed), stuff your peppers. Or, you can do it in more of a deconstructed way (which we did because they're easier to eat this way).

If you want to actually stuff the peppers, I believe she said to put the corn mixture in first, then the rice mixture.

We topped with a little bit of shredded cheese.

This was delicious! I am not always a fan of green bell peppers... but this was really good. It would also be very tasty with a red pepper (and probably the other colors as well -- if I try it, I'll let you know). Great flavor, filling recipe.
















*Sometimes this happens when you try to get picture with a good angle... oops!



**Update**

I have made this recipe again, and decided to meal prep with some of it. I ended up with 9 smaller, but filling servings. I decided to freeze three of the servings, and will roast some more peppers when I thaw them.

I also mixed all of the corn and rice mixture before adding them to the peppers.

For the meal prepping, I added the peppers, first, then put the mixture on top.