Good Eats
I love stuffed peppers—sweet bell peppers or spicy poblanos—and here are two new variations I’ve added to my meal rotation: 1. Trader Joe’s bell peppers stuffed with ground turkey and rice, and 2. a Mexican food favorite chile relleno, this time low-cal and baked instead of the traditional deep-fried.
The Trader Joe’s pepper is in the refrigerated section. It’s coated with a tasty tomato and herb blend. If you want some more carbs with that, add a side of TJ’s frozen brown rice, nuke it all for a few minutes, and pat yourself on the back for being so nutritionally virtuous.
The same goes for my new favorite chile relleno. With this new recipe, you can cut the calorie count by more than half and take in three major food groups with one simple dish. First roast, peel, and seed the poblano as usual. Stuff it with a mix of low-fat cheddar and cream cheeses, then roll it in whole wheat flour, followed by beaten egg white and panko bread crumbs. Finally, spray the chile with canola oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake for 20 min. at 450 degrees. Top with a favorite salsa, and it’s delicious enough for company.
Enough with the virtuous. Over on the dark side are two new junk foods I can’t seem to resist. Evil geniuses at the Peter Paul/Hershey Company have come up with Almond Joy Pieces, m&m-shaped candies that taste like the chocolate, coconut, and almond flavored candy bar I love. And, as a potato chip gourmand, I am so taken with a new chip I just discovered that someone had to pry a bag of Hawaiian Sweet Maui Onion Chips from my hands in order to make me share. Slathered with French onion dip, they were worth the fight.