One night after work I headed to the gym to do a sort-of quick run on the treadmill (I am so ready for nicer weather so I can run outside again) and a really good strength training session. It was a nice day, cooler than the summer-streak we’d been having, but sunny and clear. I was almost tempted to go home and just run outside and skip the gym. Biking to work a few times already this month has reminded me just how much I prefer outdoor activities. That being said, I am still focused on the strength training and not ready to sideline that for the summer yet.
My run was pretty good. My body felt nice, I stayed at a steady pace the entire time and did 3 miles. I’ve decided that I won’t be doing any MORE miles on the treadmill. Anything above the 3 will have to be outside. I mean really, who wants to do 4 or 5 miles on a treadmill? Unless it’s the dead of winter, not me!
I spent a decent amount of time doing the body weight exercises I like to do (side lunges, walking lunges, squats, step ups, pushups, Russian twists, to just name a few) and then went over to the machines to do that for the rest of the session. I felt strong and stable and had to increase the weight on one machine. Oh, and doing bicep curls I’m now up to 45 pounds!
Gym Stats:
Time: 1:22
Calories Burned: 655
Distance: 3 miles
I hurried home because I was starving and Michael was making something really tasty for dinner. The day before I had picked up a few good-looking peppers with the idea of grilling them. I then got the idea in my head that I really wanted stuffed peppers. I sent Michael a few recipes I thought sounded good and he picked one to try. I was really grateful that he put in so much time and work to make something I was craving. Here is that recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 medium green bell peppers
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
- 1/4 cup uncooked instant rice
- 3 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
- 1 tablespoon chopped onion
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- Cut tops off peppers and discard; remove seeds.
- Blanch peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water; set aside.
- In a bowl, combine beef, 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, rice, 2 tablespoons of cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and egg; mix well.
- Stuff the peppers; place in an ungreased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish.
- Pour the remaining tomato sauce over peppers.
- Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 45-60 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and peppers are tender.
- Sprinkle with remaining cheese; return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Notes
From: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/stuffed-peppers-for-two/detail.aspx
Unfortunately, I wasn’t at home for most the dinner creation so I’m not sure how closely he followed the recipe. He said he kind of “winged it” off the above recipe. He did leave out the egg and used leftover pizza sauce from a can instead of the tomato sauce (which is basically the same thing just with Italian seasoning I think). He also used lean ground turkey meat instead of beef and added chopped green onions. I think he also said he used regular white rice, not instant, and cooked it ahead of time.
Dinner was fantastic! I devoured mine because it tasted so damn good. I wasn’t sure if one stuffed pepper would be enough after a hard gym session so I added some raw broccoli to my plate. I used some Roka Blue cheese dressing as a dip. The combination turned out to be the perfect amount of food for me.
The stuffed peppers were a bit messy to eat, but worth the mess. I ate mine by cutting sections of the pepper off and eating bites of pepper with the stuffing mixture. Michael used his pepper as a bowl and just ate the stuffing mixture. 
To each it’s own. I ended up nibbling on some of his leftover pepper.
It was filling and it felt really healthy. I calculated the calories according to the recipe, minus the egg, and it actually wasn’t that bad. Of course factor in more calories for extra cheese topping!
I would most definitely have this recipe again. I’d probably try it with the egg included next time. I think perhaps the egg was kind of the “glue” to hold everything together inside the pepper. My friend Star introduced me to stuffed peppers about 4 years ago and I fell in love with the concept then. Hers were stuffed with brown rice or quinoa, lots of veggies and sauce. They were so damn good, I need to ask her what she did to them. I’m already getting more ideas on what I can stuff peppers with for next time!
QUESTION: What do you stuff your peppers with? And how do you eat stuffed peppers?
