Did you know that as a bell pepper ages, it changes colors and tastes. For instance, A red bell pepper is a mature green bell pepper and the older it gets, the sweeter it becomes and it contains eleven times more beta carotene than a green one. Beta carotene from bell peppers reaps great health benefits such as eye problems, skin disorders, and enhance immunity.

I love bell peppers… chopped up in salads, sliced and dipped in ranch, or my all time favorite sauteed with onions. Not only do I enjoy bell peppers for their great taste, but also for the vast assortment of rainbow colors they come in. There are so many different colors to choose from: red, green, yellow, orange.

Here is a great low-fat, low-calorie, and low-carb bell pepper recipe to try when these colorful bell peppers are at their abundant best. Red, yellow, green, orange – no matter which you select, this recipe will bring out their true colors.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients

* 4 large bell peppers

* 1 tablespoon olive oil

* 1/2 cup mushrooms (chopped)

* 1/2 cup onions (chopped)

* 1/2 cup celery (chopped)

* 1 garlic clove (chopped)

* 1 1/4 lb lean ground turkey meat or boca crumbs

* 1/4 cup egg beaters

* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

* 1 teaspoon italian seasoning

* 1 can italian style diced tomatoes

* Salt and pepper as desired

* Italian seasoning and parmesan for toppings

Directions

* Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

* On stovetop in a medium skillet or saucepan, sauté mushroom, onion, celery and garlic in olive oil until veggies are soft; remove from heat.

* Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl,combine ground turkey, egg, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

* Add sauté veggie mixture to turkey mixture; mix well.

* Stuff peppers with turkey/veggie mix and place in an ungreased shallow casserole dish.

* In a small bowl, combine undrained tomatoes and tomato sauce; pour over peppers to cover.

* Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and Italian seasonings; cover with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes.

* Uncover, sprinkle with mozzarella and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and browned.

ENJOY!

Question: Do you like Bell Peppers and if so, what is your favorite way to eat them?

A Success indeed! No more chewy spinach smoothies

… I have successfully made my very first green monster smoothie

Thanks to all you that commented and gave me such wonderful advice on making these smoothies.

I went out that night and bought some fresh spinach!

Top Advice: Fresh Spinach! Me being the cheap person that I am thought I would save money on buying frozen spinach. Well, if you like to chew your smoothies, then go for it. For me, I’m all about the puree!

And really, fresh spinach isn’t expensive, so I pretty much wasted my time on the frozen spinach.

I thought this morning I would attempt the Virgin Green Monster Smoothie Recipe from the Green Monster Movement.

- 1 frozen banana

- 1 cup Almond Milk

- 2 cups spinach

- 6 ice cubes

- A dash of Stevia

The recipe doesn’t call for sweetener, but I have a huge sweet tooth so I added this in at the end.

OMG! This stuff is amazing. Seriously people, if you haven’t tried it, you need to. I promise you that you won’t taste the spinach… unless you are like me in round one and aim for a chewy smoothie with frozen spinach. There are just some things you can’t go cheap on

What are you waiting for… go make one all ready!

Question: What type of Green Monster Smoothie did you make this morning?

Flatout Flatbread Light. A great alternative to sandwiches and a low calorie option for wraps. They have the look of a tortilla, but thicker and doughy. They  are made in a rectangle shape, preventing everything from falling out of the flatbread. Nothing makes me more frustrated than working so hard to make a perfect wrap and then it all falling apart when I pick it up.

Ranging at 90 calories, these wraps are gold when being on a diet and losing weight in comparison to Subway’s wraps that are a whooping 310 calories for the bread alone. . . What a difference!  These fiber loaded, low carb, high protein wraps come in a variety of different flavors including sun dried tomatoes, italian herb, and multi-grain.

There are so many different ways to eat Flatout Bread. I love making breakfast burritos, sandwich wraps, pinwheel appetizers, fajita wraps, salads, quesadillas, french toast,and everyone’s all time favorite- – - PIZZA!

I love love love pizza, but hate how much butter, oil, and fat comes with it. Flatout bread pizza cuts this out and makes for a healthy alternative to ordering pizza. Try out this great low-fat, low-calorie flatout bread pizza recipe that is loaded with veggies!

Ingredients:

1 flatout flatbread Light Italian Herb

1/2 cup light Ragu Pizza Sauce

1 wedge Laughing Cow Cheese

1/2 cup broccoli

1/4 cup chopped onions

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped green bell peppers

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 350

* Bake Flatout Bread 5-7 minutes

* Steam all veggies

* Place sauce, veggies, and cheese on flatout bread and bake for another 5-7 minutes

*        

What is your favorite way to eat Flatout Bread?

In honor of my previous post on smoothies, I thought I would take it upon myself to try the newest craze I’ve been reading about. Green Monsters. These smoothies are made with a key ingredient, kale or spinach.

I know, I know! Gross, right? Well evidently all it is all said and done, you can’t even taste the spinach. You simply combine spinach or kale with your favorite fruits and voila… you have a Green Monster.

Angela over at the Oh She Glows first started this craze. Evidently these smoothies are suppose to give you huge benefits. Increases Energy levels. Decrease consumption of oils and fats in your diet. You start craving more veggies and less sweets… now that is what i need. I have a huge sweet tooth! You can read more about these healthy drinks HERE.

So, I woke up this morning excited to try it out. After my 5 mile run I thought a Green Monster Smoothie would be a perfect way to refuel and start off my day

. . . hmmm

Lets just say, my first attempt this morning didn’t go as planned

I pulled out all my ingredients…

1/4 cup strawberries

1/4 cup blueberries

2 cups spinach

1 cup Almond Milk

I don’t know what happened with the spinach, but it is way too chunky! Maybe it was due to the fact that I used frozen spinach or the blender was messed up? I don’t know. It just wouldn’t blend and now I sit here chewing on my drink.

Any suggestions?

For those of you who have not tried a Green Monster Smoothie, head on over to Angela’s site. She has tons of great recipes to try. Hopefully yours won’t be so chunky like mine

And for the Pro Green Monster Smoothie Makers out there, leave your favorite recipe in the comments section for all of us newbies to try out.

Holla mi amigos!

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Mexican Food has gotten a bad reputation in the weight loss realm for all the greasy, gooey, cheese smothering foods. Have no fear though my weight watchers… this recipe will live you in a food coma and still losing weight.Today I thought I would share with you a great low calorie Mexican Food Recipe. Check it out:

Healthy La Tortilla Pie

Ingredients

* 1 cup corn kernels

* Sliced Green Onions

* 1 teaspoon ground cumin

* 1 1/2 cup salsa

* 1 can (15-19oz) low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained

* 4 large La Tortilla Low Carb Tortillas- 80 calories

* 1- 1 1/2 cup fat free shredded cheese

* 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions

* Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray large cookie sheet

* Over medium heat, add corn, green onions, and cumin. Cook for about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat; stir in salsa and beans.

* Place 1 tortilla on cookie sheet. Top with 1/2 cup bean mixture and 1/4 cup cheese. Repeat, starting with tortilla, to make 2 more layers. Top with remaining tortilla and cheese.

* Bake the pie for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro

Hope you Enjoy!

Smoothies are always a great choice during the summer when it’s hot outside and you want something healthy to cool off on. While most smoothies are loaded with rich antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals, beware, most fruit smoothies are loaded with sugar and calories. For instance, Jamba Juice’s Peanut Butter Moo’d is a dazzling 800 calories and 122g of sugar! While the Orange Dream Machine loaded with vitamin C is a whopping 70g of sugar.

The safest route for a healthy smoothie is to bust out that blender and make it yourself. Avoid ingredients like ice cream, whole milk, sugar and cream. There are the culprits in sabotaging your healthy smoothie. Pick ingredients like fat free milk, light yogurt, almond milk, fat free milk, and sugar-free fruit juice.

Unlike most healthy smoothies that are extremely watery and flavorless, adding in frozen fruit to your smoothies will create that creamy and thick texture. No fruit in your recipe? Freezing the liquids in your recipe will work as well, such as coffee, juice, and milk. Just pour them into an ice cube tray and you have several smoothies.

Add a little kick to your drink without the calories by adding in vanilla, almond, coconut, or lemon extracts.

Need a great guilt-free smoothie recipe?

This Orange Dream Machine is still loaded with vitamin C but no where near 70g of sugar and only 85 calories!

Orange Dream Machine

- 3 oz. Diet Orange Juice Concentrate

- 2-3 packets of Splenda

- 1/2 cup light soy milk (regular or vanilla)

- 1/2 cup water

- 4 ice cubes

- 1 tsp. vanilla

Citrus Berry Fruit Smoothie

- 1/2 frozen banana

- 1/4 cup peaches

- 1/4 cup blueberries

- 1/4 cup strawberries

- 1/4 cup Diet Orange Juice Concentrate

- A little bit of lime juice

Share with us some of your favorite healthy smoothie recipes?

Now you can enjoy all the jelly, jams, and fruit spreads that you want without all the added sugar and calories. I recently discovered Walden Farms Calorie Free Fruit Spreads while shopping at Sprouts.

These fruit spreads are made with concentrated fruit extracts, splenda, and natural flavors, but no calorie, fat, carbs, gluten or sugars of any kind. I know there is controversy with splenda, but at least it’s not aspartame! Where do you stand with splenda?

There was a variety of fruit spreads to choose from, including strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and apricot, and orange, but when I saw Apple Butter, I just couldn’t resist. Obviously since it was a fruit spread it didn’t have the rich creamy taste of REAL apple butter, but it did had a great cinnamon apple flavor.

The best part was that you can use this one ingredient to spice up any meal! Here were a few recipes I used with my Walden Farms apple butter:

- Spread on toast  or a biscuit with small amount of butter

- Mixed with low fat yogurt, a small amount of honey, and Fiber One Cereal

- Combine with oatmeal, almond milk, raisins, and chopped up apples and a little bit of cinnamon

- Mixed in with frozen yogurt

- Swirl it into some fat free cottage cheese, raisins, sprinkled with Grapenuts Cereal

- Mixed with fat free cool whip and spread on a rice cake… tasted just like apple pie for only 50 calories!

Here is a pic of one of the many yummy recipes I made durning my afternoon snack

Has anyone tried Fiber One’s four newest additions to the family?

In honor of my previous post on the important of fiber, I am pleased to announce that Fiber One has joined up with Yoplait yogurt to create four great tasting yogurts… and it’s Hungry-girl approved!

Personally I am not a huge fan of Yoplait yogurt, but when I saw that Fiber One came out with these bad boys I thought I might just give them a try. Most Yoplait yogurts are loaded with sugar, but these are only 4g! With a whooping 50 calories, 0g fat, and 5g of fiber you are sure to stay within your calorie range for the day.

Unlike most loaded fiber products, these taste nothing close to cardboard or chalk … really, none of Fiber Ones products that I have tried come even close to those descriptions. I tried their strawberry flavor, which was amazing! They also come in peach, vanilla, and key lime.

Since we are on the topic of my one true love, I though I would share with you one of my favorite yogurt recipe that is extremely simple to make!

Yogurt Pie . . . A sweet, low fat, low calorie dessert that is to die for!

PIE SHELL

Ingredients:

* 2 cups Fiber One Cereal

* 4 tbsp. LAND O LAKES Whipped Light Butter; melted

Directions:

- Begin by preheating oven to 350 degrees.

- In a blender or food processor, grind Fiber One to a breadcrumb-like consistency.

- Combine crumbs with melted butter and stir until well mixed.

- In an oven-safe pie dish sprayed with nonstick spray, evenly distribute Fiber One mixture, using your hands or a flat utensil to press & form the crust. Use your fingers to press it into the edges and up along the sides of the dish.

- Bake pie shell for 10 minutes. Set aside.

PIE FILLING

Ingredients:

* 2 containers (6oz each) Fiber One Strawberry Yogurt

* 1 tub (8oz) Fat-Free Cool Whip

Directions:

- In a large mixing bowl, combine fat-free yogurt and cool whip

- Pour mixture into pie shell and freeze

- Place in refrigerator (uncovered) at least two hours or until set

For this recipe, strawberry yogurt is my favorite but any flavor works.

What flavor would you choose?

Good Morning! It’s an EGG-celent day today, isn’t it?

Speaking of which, have you ever tried Egg Beaters? I have fallen in love with these things since I found them a few years ago. They taste just like regular eggs but with half the calories, all of the protein, and they are naturally fat- and cholesterol-free! You can’t beat that… only ¼ cup is a whooping 30 calories!

Ok, enough with the egg-beaters. Today I wanted to share with you my morning breakfast. I like to call it Egg Stir-Fry. It’s simple, easy and tastes so good!

Ingredients:

- Broccoli

- Onions

- Bell Peppers

* Any of your favorite Veggies

- ½ to ¾ cup Egg Beaters

Directions:

- Stir-Fry Veggies and set aside

- Scramble Eggs

- Mix veggies with eggs

I know, I know… it sounds really difficult! That’s just how good of a chef I can be!

Like I stated in one of my pervious post, breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. Starting off with egg-beaters can make it even better for those of you trying to watch your waste line because it is packed with protein, an ingredient that is key to not only keeping you full longer, preventing those mid morning hunger pains, but also aids in rebuilding muscle… great for those of you who are daily working out. Research has even shown that women who started their day off with eggs lost twice as much weight!

Have an EGG-celent day and don’t forget to EGG-sercise ! ! !

Calling all Carb Watchers!

You can have your pasta and eat it too! I have discovered a miracle noodle for carb haters called Tofu Shirataki Noodles that are a measly 20 calories and 3g of carbs. They come in three different kinds of pastas: spaghetti, fettuccine, and angel-hair.

Ok, I know what you are thinking… TOFU?

Call me crazy, but it is actually really good. I’m not a fan of tofu by the slightest amount until I tried this pasta. These noodles actually taste just like your everyday carb loaded noodles. It’s a little on the chewy side… but hey, if it’s only 20 calories and 3g of carbs than I will take the chewyness. The best part is that it is ZERO points for all you weight watcher peps out there!

I found them in the tofu aisle next to all the lunchmeats at Ralphs… click HERE for other locations. They come in a package full of water, so make sure to rinse them very well and pat dry them. When I first tried them I mixed in some boca ground crumbs with Fat Free tomato sauce. For those of you that enjoy Fettuccine Alfredo, Hungry-Girl has a great recipe. Check it out:

Ingredients:

1 Package Tofu Shirataki Fettuccine Shaped Tofu Noodles

1/2 Wedge The Laughing Cow Light Cheese

1 teaspoon Fat Free Sour Cream

2 teaspoons Kraft Reduced Fat Parmesan Cheese

Salt & Pepper (if desired)

Directions:

Rinse fettuccine noodles VERY well.  Microwave them for one minute, then drain them and pat dry. Add cheeses and sour cream.  Mix thoroughly. Microwave to help melt cheese further, and mix some more.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This remarkable meal is a whooping 80 calories and 1 weight watcher point.  What would we do without hungry-girl?

Serve this with a chicken salad and some fruit and you are set to go for a healthy, low calorie Italian dinner!

ENJOY!