Thursday, August 1, 2013

All About Food

When I was 10 I started to get these really bad migraine headaches. My mother, bless her soul, dealt with the military hospitals and did all she could to figure out what was wrong with me. I had CAT Scans, MRIs, and referrals to a plethora of different specialists. Nothing worked and I just figured by the time I was an adult that exhaustion, migraines, and pain were going to be my status quo. In an effort to deal with the symptoms of another issue I was having I started the Paleo Diet. What Is the Paleo Diet?

Anyways, everything I read said I would feel sluggish, have mega cravings for carbs, have headaches (ha ha, like I could have more than I had already), and in general go through some pretty crummy grain and gluten withdrawal. It never happened. In a few days my energy levels increased. I fell asleep at night when I wanted to. I felt FANTASTIC! It wasn't until about 3 weeks into the Paleo lifestyle that I realized I hadn't had a headache since I started Paleo! It was eye opening to compare my life pre-Paleo to now. I cried when I realized how poor my quality of life had been. I still mourn the energy I should have had in high school and college (you know there is something wrong when you would rather sleep than explore Vegas with your husband at 21).

I think if you suffer with any of the symptoms I had, cutting gluten, grains, soy, and processed foods from your diet is worth a month long test. I'll do my best to post recipes here for you to try that I've already tested on my family. 

Tonight is my very favorite recipe for Stuffed Peppers that I've Paleo-ized! I'll post how to make ahead and freeze. You can skip the make ahead and freeze part if you want to :) 





STUFFED PEPPERS (To Freeze) 

1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp. salt
2 cans tomato sauce
8 green peppers
1 c. chopped onions
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 lb. sharp cheese, cut up or shredded (omit if you can't tolerate dairy)
1 1/2 c. riced cauliflower

Cook meat, onion, garlic until meat is brown. Add seasonings and soup, simmer covered 10 minutes. Add cheese, cooking until cheese melts. Stir in riced cauliflower (use shredding attachment on a food processor to rice your cauliflower). Cool if you plan to freeze ahead of time.

Cut peppers in half lengthwise and take out seeds, or if you'd like, you can cut the top of the peppers off and stuff whole. Cook in boiling salted water about 3 minutes. Drain and cool.

Place peppers on baking sheet. Stuff with meat-rice mixture. Place in freezer until frozen. Remove, wrap, seal and return to freezer. You can also freeze in baking tin if sealed tightly with saran wrap. 

To serve: Remove wrapping and partially thaw at room temperature. Place in shallow pan, cover with foil. If frozen in baking tin, partially thaw at room temperature and cover with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until heated through. 

Tip: If you'd like more sauce you can add an 8 oz. (or more) can of tomato sauce over top of peppers 15 min. before taking out of oven.  

My girls INHALE this meal. I can never make enough of it. Here is the evidence ;)





No comments:

Post a Comment