Product Spotlight: Favorite Trader Joe’s Frozen Foods as Meal Prep!

Because the Fearless Flying Kitchen is based out of San Diego,  it’s rarely cold outside for the holidays, but baby it’s cold inside… with our favorite frozen section items for meal prep!

Fast and flavorful, these nutrient dense meals are pretty much the easiest meal prep ever (with some seasonal fall flare!)

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Product Spotlight on: My Fav TJ’S Frozen Foods as meal prep!

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Recipe by Bonnie Kuss

Ingredients

  • Frozen Roasted Root Veggies
  • Frozen Grilled Cauliflower
  • Cilantro Lime Chicken Burgers
  • Cruciferous Crunch
  • Seasonal Pepita Salsa
  • Avocado number to go

Directions

  1. Open Box of frozen burgers. Follow instructions on box and either pan cook, ( my personal fav) or use a sheet pan and cook for 10 in the oven at 400. I love these because they have minimal ingredients, TONS of flavor and pack a protein punch. After cooked I cut each into strips.
  2. Open frozen root veggies, place in microwave bowl and cook for 5 minutes. DONE
  3. Open Cauliflower, place in microwave bowl top with 2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil, microwave for 3-4 minutes. Add Salt and Pepper. Done!
  4. Open Cruciferous Crunch , line bottoms of Tupperware with 1 cup . Add ½ cup root veggies, ¾ cup cauli, chicken burger strips, and top chicken with salsa.
  5. I like to eat these cold as a salad, maybe adding a little extra salsa and a TJ’s ‘Wholly guacamole’ pack if I’m feeling extra, or simply warmed up !


Written by Bonnie Kuss, Trader Joe’s enthusiast and nutrition student extraordinaire!

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Product Spotlight: Trader Joe’s Traditional Premade Carnitas

Low maintenance with BIG seasonal flavor- Carnitas and Butternut squash enchiladas for a dinner party.

I thought of this idea when I had leftover butternut squash cans in my pantry and carnitas in my fridge… it all seemed to fit together after that!

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TJ’s Traditional Premade Carnitas

  • Servings: 8-10 Enchiladas
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Recipe by Bonnie Kuss

Ingredients

  • 2 Cans TJ’s butternut squash puree
  • 1 jar chipotle salsa
  • ½ cup chicken broth, veggie broth, or water
  • 8-10 Tortillas of Choice ( Corn or flour )
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • ½ cup Fresh chopped cilantro
  • 1 round of TJ’s Queso Fresco Or 1 wedge of Cotija crumbled
  • 1 Package Carnitas TJS pre made
  • Make it totally Vegetarian or add extra fiber by using 2 cans of drained black beans instead of Carnitas.

Directions

  1. Combine puree, salsa, and ½ CUP broth or water in bowl, add spices and stir set aside
  2. Place carnitas into separate bowl and shred or chop into small pieces add 1- 1 ½ cup of sauce to pork and stir to combine
  3. If using corn tortilla, warm in a pan with oil oil to prevent cracking before rolling, If using flour tortillas feel free to skip that step. Lets get rolling!
  4. Place 1 cup sauce on bottom of pan
  5. Take 1 tortilla, add 2 rounded TB full of sauced meat, 1 TB cheese and roll up, set inside pan seam side down and repeat * *Continue rolling until you have used all your filling.
  6. Pour remaining sauce mixture on top of enchiladas. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes, after 20 minutes remove foil and sprinkle with ½ – ¾ cup cheese. Bake for 5-10 minutes until cheese has mostly melted.
  7. Top with the fresh cilantro right before serving!


Fall Harvest at Trader Joe’s

It’s almost Fall, and Trader Joe’s is already unleashing seasonal items in stores across America. If you take a peak at the Trader Joe’s Instagram Feed, you’ll see some of their delicious new products. We took to the aisles and bought some of our favorites and wanted to share them with you. Check out our latest video featuring:

  • Pumpkin Pie Perfect Bars
  • Grain and Seed Batard
  • Halloween House Decorating Kits
  • Harvest Alfredo Sauce
  • Apple Cider Donuts
  • A Great $5 White Wine
  • (And, of course…) Pumpkins and Pumpkin Spice

We also make a delicious pizza out of the Harvest Alfredo Sauce using Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Broccolini, Pancetta, Mushrooms and Fresh Mozzarella Cheese. You can check out that recipe HERE.

What’s your favorite fall treat from Trader Joe’s??

Harvest Alfredo Pizza with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Pancetta and Broccolini

Today, we made this absolutely delicious pizza, using the new Autumnal Harvest Alfredo Sauce (which we are super excited about!). Also featured in this recipe is the old standard: the fresh whole wheat pizza dough. Topping things off with broccolini, pancetta, mushrooms, roasted Brussels sprouts and fresh mozzarella balls, this pizza is a delicious fall treat!

Harvest Alfredo Pizza with Roasted Brussels sprouts, Pancetta and Broccolini

Harvest Alfredo Pizza with Roasted Brussels sprouts, Pancetta and Broccolini

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: moderate
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
  • Harvest Alfredo Container (~2/3 of container)
  • Pancetta (~ 1/2 container)
  • 6 Mushrooms, sliced and diced
  • 10 Roasted Brussels Sprouts, thinly sliced
  • 3 Broccolini, thinly sliced
  • 10 (small) Fresh Mozzarella Balls
  • Parmesan Cheese

Directions

  1. Remove whole wheat dough from bag, onto floured surface. Let come to room temp for about 20 minutes. In the mean time, prepare ingredients and pre-heat your oven to 450˚F.
  2. In a small skillet or sauce pan, over medium heat, combine pancetta and mushrooms and cook until crispy, about 5 minutes.
  3. Work the dough in your hands, knead a little bit and then let gravity do the work to expand your dough. I love using a silat (or a silicone baking mat) to spread my dough out on. Once you have your dough to the desired shape, spread out harvest Alfredo sauce on top, then layer the pancetta and mushrooms, roasted Brussels sprouts broccolini and then finally the fresh mozzarella balls. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake for 10-12 minutes. After 12 minutes, we turned the broiler on low and watched the cheese get a little extra crispy.
  4. Remove onto a cutting board, slice into 12 pieces and enjoy!


Nutrition Facts Harvest Pizza FFK

SWASHBUCKLED! (S2E9): Ryan’s Life Hacks for Sweet Abs

What can we say, except…[You’re] Welcome! This week, we celebrate all foods Ryan Haringa, our favorite demi-god amongst men! He sings, he acts, he’s intelligent… Okay, mostly we’re just obsessed withi his perfect abs. Marie got her hands on Ryan’s meal plan, and this week she and Amanda are setting out to get a “Body by Ryan” by cooking the things he eats every day: ground turkey, spinach, bell peppers, and…Peanut M&Ms*?

*Peanut M&Ms not available at Trader Joe’s. Discover the answer to this dilemma and more, by watching now.


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Following a diet plan that called for rock solid abs meant that Amanda’s refrigerator was full of healthy ingredients. Unfortunately, it was stocked with the same items that Marie brought (thus the spite bag reference).

But with most reducing diets, when you deprive yourself and restrict calories, you usually start to crave high fat, high sugar and generally unhealthy foods…which you’ll see in action in this episode. We don’t know how Ryan does it! (must be those daily 6 MnM’s! and One Bars!

Ingredients featured in this week’s episode:

 

Couple notes about the meals we prepared:

  • The zoodles were great. When we make this again, we’ll use a leaner ground turkey. The additional fat adds a great mouthfeel and flavor, but we would use a little extra heart healthy olive oil instead.
  • When you make zoodle bowls, add the zucchini at the very end. The longer they cook, the more fluid they release and turn mushy. We suggest you add the zucchini and parmesan, then turn the burner off. Top with cheese and put in the broiler for a minimal amount of time. The zucchini will soften enough with the other hot foods in the pan and in the oven.
  • We added protein powder to our ice cream. It tasted pretty good, but didn’t last in the freezer. Not because we ate it all, but because it solidified to a point it was inedible. If you choose to do this, we suggest eating within the hour of making or enjoy as a milkshake.

zucchini noodles

Spinach, Bell Pepper & Turkey Zoodle Bake

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Ground Turkey
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 2 Enjoya Peppas
  • 1 Bag Spinach
  • Salt and Pepper 1/2 tsp each
  • 1 large or 2 medium zucchini
  • 1/4 cup Roasted Tomato Basil Hummus
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 Quattro formaggio cheese

Directions

  1. Over high heat add ground turkey. Add salt & pepper. Cook through. Remove and set aside. Drain turkey fat. While this is cooking, spiralize zucchini.
  2. In the same pan, add olive oil. Once hot, add in peppers and sauté for a few minutes. Once soft, add spinach and let cook for another minute. Add in hummus.
  3. At the last minute, turn off burner and stir in zucchini noodles and parmesan. Top with Quattro fromaggio cheese and place in the broiler (low) for a few minutes (watch closely).  Remove and top with parsley and serve.


6 mnm ice cream

High Protein Sundae with Exactly 6 Peanut MnMs

  • Servings: 3
  • Difficulty: easy
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup full fat Vanilla Ice Cream
  • 2 Scoops Vanilla Protein Powder
  • 1/3 cup Chocolate Covered Peanuts
  • 6 Mnms
  • Chocolate Syrup

Directions

  1. Combine ice cream and protein powder in a blender and blend on high speed for 30 seconds. Turn on low and add chocolate covered peanuts and mnms.
  2. Transfer to individual bowls and top with chocolate syrup.


 

 

 

 

 

Top Runner’s Fuel at Trader Joe’s

FFK Top Runner Fuel from Trader Joes

Here at the Fearless Flying Kitchen, we just love strapping on our sneakers and running for a ridiculously long time. In order to do that though, you need to fuel your your body with enough energy to keep you going. Most runners rely on simple, easily digested carbohydrates to help provide the energy that is needed on long runs. Runners also need to focus on hydration, both from water and also replacing electrolytes (like sodium and potassium) that are lost in sweat, which help with water retention.

Most runners are familiar with the brands of runner’s food, like Stinger, Gu, Gatorade, etc. and while they are definitely a part of our running fuel plan, we sometimes like to think (and eat) outside the box.  However, we went on a mission at Trader Joe’s to find fuel for runs, as well as great foods for pre and post workouts.


Caramel Bites (Stroopwafels)

Caramel Bites from Trader Joe's

These delicious mini-waffles filled with caramel come from Holland. They are very similar to the Honey Stinger Waffle brand products and are easily digestible. We love having these as pre-race fuel, about 15-30 minutes before a long run.


19 Cent Bananas!

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Bananas at Trader Joe’s are a steal! You really can’t beat the price at 19 cents per banana. Granted, most races provide bananas at the finish line, this is a great item to have on hand at home to give your body a boost of potassium.


Scandinavian Swimmers

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One of our favorite treats, both on the road and off. At least when we are running, our bodies are using them immediately. We normally chew on sports beans or gummy bears on long runs when you want something to chew on. This is a great option that doesn’t have artificial colorings or harmful preservatives.


Freeze Dried Bananas

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This is a great, not messy option to bring on the road with you. Lots of sugar, lots of potassium, all quickly absorbed for energy while you are running.


Manzanita Olives

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Who here sweats? WE DO! Normally, if you are running in hot weather, or aren’t adapted to conserve sodium, you will likely loose a lot of sodium in your salty sweat. Sodium is very important for runners because it helps retain water, and loosing too much sodium in sweat can upset the fluid balance in your body. This super salty snack is portable in individual packs, perfect for taking on a hot, trail run.


Trail Mix

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Healthy fats and sugars and protein – Oh my! We love trail mix for a post-run recovery snack. Trail mix has a nice blend of protein, carbohydrate and fat that will help your body rebuild protein and glycogen stores. Trader Joe’s has so many varieties of Trail Mix to suit your taste buds. When we want a basic and healthy mix, we’ll go with theGo Raw Trek Mix. When we want some chocolate in the mix? Tempting Trail Mix (although not the best for transporting). The best part? Individual bags to take on the go!


Date and Nut Bars

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Again with the post run fuel – Very similar nutritionally to trail mix, just blended together into a bar (or, bite) form. This is similar to Lara bars, but with chia seed (Omega 3!)


Beef Jerky

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While this might not seem like the best fuel for runners, I find that at around mile 17, the simple carbohydrate fuel just doesn’t settle well in my stomach. I start to crave savory foods and chewing. Beef Jerky is a great option, because it is salty, tastes savory, and you can chew it for a while (you could even spit it out if you really wanted to, but it is so delicious, why?)


Other important things you’ll find on the aisles of Trader Joe’s

  • Bottled Water – Such a great deal. Comes in a variety of sizes to meet all your hydration needs.
  • Chocolate Milk – My favorite post-run recovery drink. The perfect blend of protein and carbohydrates.
  • Pasta Noodles (Imported from Italy!) – Pasta is a great way to carb-up the night before a big run. It’s always good to choose something with lots of carbs and not a lot of fat, so a pasta with a marinara sauce is preferential to a pizza loaded with cheese and fatty meats or a macaroni and cheese type of meal.
  • Honey Nut O’s – This is my favorite pre-long-run breakfast. It’s the only thing that doesn’t disrupt my tummy. However, everyone is different and tolerates foods differently.

Road Trip Fuel from Trader Joe’s

Road Trip Food

It’s the last month of summer…which can only mean one thing…ROAD TRIP!! Nothing like hopping in a car with the AC blasting and traveling all over the country while its scorching hot outside.

But while traveling through random towns and in the middle of nowhere, its important to have some fuel on hand. Road trips are also famous for gas station food and convenience items, and quick serve restaurants, that all have a bad rap for unhealthy foods. When we travel, we always make sure we are stocked up on our favorites from Trader Joe’s (both healthy and decadent).


Beef or Turkey Jerky

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Beef Jerky is the ultimate road trip food. I remember going to gas stations as a kid and coming out with a giant, flat strip of dried beef. If you are looking for a leaner version, opt for the turkey jerky.


Turkey Chomps

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This is the last time we talk about meat on this list, promise. We also love CHOMPS, specifically the Turkey flavor, which is lower fat than the original beef flavor.


Roasted Seaweed with Salt

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One of our favorite snacks to have on hand from Trader Joe’s. Seaweed is a great way to get in your potassium, iodine, magnesium and vitamins A and C. It’s also a low calorie way to whet your savory tooth – 60 calories for the whole package!


Black Cold Brew Coffee

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I am not normally a black coffee kind of person, however the canned black cold brew from Trader Joe’s is very creamy and smooth, making it a personal favorite. This is a great choice to bring on the road when you won’t be able to come in contact with a Starbucks for miles.


Sweet, Savory & Tart Trail Mix

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Hands down, our favorite deconstructed candy bar…er, trail mix. This variety three different types of sweet chips: chocolate, peanut butter and white chocolate. As well as cashews, peanuts and different varieties of raisins. But be mindful of enjoying these, as 1/4 cup contains 150 calories (which can add up significantly as you sit in the passenger side eating palmful after palmful) (not that I know from experience…)


Organic Oats & Flax Instant Oatmeal

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Why pay an arm and a leg for breakfast when you can have these delicious (and healthy) oatmeal packs ready to go? Just bring a bowl and find some hot water (Starbucks? Microwave?).


Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks

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Sometimes, you just want to munch on carbs in the car. We feel that! Why not reach for a satisfying whole grain pretzel that the whole family enjoys?


Other great options for road trips on the aisles of Trader Joe’s:

  • Individual Packages of Almonds – We also love having a snack rich in protein and healthy fats to keep us satiated on the road.
  • Gum– Trader Joe’s has some delicious gum at the checkout. Whatever brand you choose, look for sugar free and make sure you have some on your next road trip. This helps with to combat eating while bored, something even the most intuitive eater can encounter.
  • Water– As much as stopping to use the bathroom constantly is a pain, dehydration is an even bigger pain. Make sure you have some with you on your travels.

SWASHBUCKLED! (S2E8): It’s The Great Trader Joe’s Campout, Charlie Brown

This week, we get real rugged with our ode to camping! Full of tin foil dinners, meat granola bars, improvising barware, “postmatesing” liquor and lighting things on fire. Plus grammar and vocabulary lessons (non-camping related). Check out the full episode here!

 


Ingredients featured in this week’s episode:

 

In preparation of camping this summer, Amanda tried out her camp cooking skills in the Fearless Flying Kitchen. Although, she doesn’t really ever go camping and thinks you can just throw packets of foil into the open fire (that’s how it works, right?)

We combine sweet and savory with these delicious peach and hatch green Chile foil packets. When we don’t have camping on the brain, we’ll make these again, but without the tin foil (since cooking with aluminum –> ingesting aluminum in your food –> not the best way to prepare meals on the daily) and instead bake in a pyrex dish. When peaches aren’t in season, you could even use canned or frozen (thawed) peaches.

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Chile-Cheese Rice & Sausage Foil Packets

  • Servings: 5-6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • One bag of microwavable brown rice
  • One can of diced green chiles
  • 2 Tbsp Nonfat Greek yogurt
  • One Peach, diced
  • 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Garlic powder 1 tsp
  • 1 package smoked, apple chardonnay sausage, sliced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.
  2. Combine bag of brown rice with can of chiles and microwave for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, dice peach and add to rice and chiles after being microwaved. Add to that mozzarella, salt, pepper, Greek yogurt, and garlic salt.
  3. Get your sheets of foil ready. Add a portion of the rice mixture and top with a couple slices of sausage. Divide all the ingredients evenly between 5 or 6 tin foil sheets. Wrap up and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. OR you could just toss it in a camp fire (we’re assuming this will work?)
  4. If you want to use a pyrex dish, we recommend mixing the sausages in with the rice mixture and placing in an 8X12 glass baking dish and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.


Smores Vodka Cocktail

Smores Vodka Cocktail

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: moderately easy
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • One ounce coffee syrup
  • 1 small scoop vanilla ice cream*
  • Two ounces of vodka**
  • 1 Tbsp chocolate syrup
  • 2 Tbsp Half and Half
  • Ice for shaking
  • Glass Rimming: Chocolate syrup and crushed graham crackers, marshmallows

Directions

  1. Add ingredients to a shaker (or two zoo cups) and cover and shake until combined.
  2. Get a fire source and toast your marshmallow
  3. Get two smaller plates or bowls. Add chocolate syrup to one and crushed graham crackers to the other.  Grab a glass and place the rim in the chocolate syrup, then the graham crackers. Strain cocktail into glass. Top with roasted marshmallow.

*You really don’t need this. It is what we did, must most of it stayed with the ice when we strained it. If you really want this to be like dessert, you can put a little vanilla ice cream in your glass after rimming and before straining  into it. Or save some fat and calories and leave it out. You won’t miss it.

** We just had a regular vodka, but a flavored vodka would be delicious here too! Try a whipped cream or marshmallow flavor and let us know how it goes in the comments.

 

SWASHBUCKLED! (S2E7): FFK Goes Hollywood

This week, Marie and Amanda get the star treatment with the addition of Sound Engineer Jacob! While he introduces us to a higher level of technology, we introduce him to… you guessed it… Simpler Wines! Will our dinner taste better now that we have a bigger microphone? Can a beer-loving Hufflepuff truly appreciate canned wine the way that we do? And what’s all the Happy Dancing for? Be sure to watch to find out!


Ingredients Featured in This Week’s Episode:

We decided that the Pub Cheese tastes kind of like an adult handy-snack. On its own, it is kind of like cheese whiz, but is actually pretty good with honey whole wheat pretzels. Amanda decided to use it in place of ricotta cheese and replaced mozzarella cheese with Mexican cheese. The tomato sauce was more of a chili, and thus was born the southwest take on Eggplant Parmesan.

Eggplant Chili Stacks

Eggplant Chili Stacks

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: moderately easy
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • 1 Eggplant, peeled and sliced
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 cup maseca
  • 1 cup Italian Style Breadcrumbs
  • Vegetable Oil
  • 1 lb 96/4 Lean Ground Beef
  • 1/2 Package Soy Chorizo
  • 1/2 Onion, diced
  • 1 tsp Olive Oil
  • 1 15 oz Can Tomato Sauce
  • Pub Cheese
  • Mexican Cheese
  • Toppings: Guacamole and Sour Cream

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Peel and slice eggplant. Beat eggs in one bowl. In another, combine maseca and bread crumbs. Get vegetable oil in a large skillet and turn on medium-high. Once oil is hot, drudge each slice of eggplant in eggs, then maseca/breadcrumb mixture, and cook in hot oil until brown on each side. Remove eggplant and place on a paper towel to blot extra oil.
  2. Meanwhile, cook chili mixture by dicing up garlic. Sauté in a separate skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Once onion starts to brown, add soyrizo and ground beef and cook until brown. Add can of tomato sauce and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let cook and develop flavor for another 10 minutes.
  3. When ready to assemble, layer one piece of eggplant, top with about 1 tbsp pub cheese, 1-2 tbsp of the chili mixture and 1 Tbsp Mexican cheese and repeat 1-2 more times. In the episode, we ended here, but we highly recommend assembling these on a baking sheet and placing in the oven for about 10 minutes, so the cheese gets nice and melty and the whole dish warms through. Top with guacamole and sour cream. We served this on a bed of arugula.


 

 

Chocolate Cupcakes wtih Caramelized Bacon

We used THIS RECIPE for the chocolate cupcakes from AllRecipes. We adapted it slightly with cutting the sugar down to 1 cup (instead of 1 1/2). We used the cacao powder in the cupcakes and then topped it with a chocolate ganache (basically melted 1 cup chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp half and half and 2 Tbsp butter mixed in) and caramelized bacon (bacon baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes with brown sugar and cinnamon on top).

SWASHBUCKLED! (S2E6): Italian-ish

This week, we go deep into Marie’s Italian roots to make something, kind-of, Italian-ish? None of the ingredients that were provided were very Italian-y, but they all were delicious to eat on their own, and in the dish!

Watch this week’s episode here:


Ingredients Featured in This Week’s Episode:


 

This week, we dive deep into Marie’s “non-white girl” roots, and make some vegetarian stuffed peppers and take a fun twist on a traditional caprese salad.

The stuffed peppers are full of fiber from the veggies, whole wheat cous cous and black beans, while being packed with flavor from the jalapeño artichoke dip and fragrant cheeses. We both loved the stuffed peppers and preferred the green ones over the yellow (which was a surprise to us both!)

The caprese salad was a slam dunk…if you removed the chocolate. Cherries with Mozzarella and Basil was a delicious flavor combination. The dark chocolate pretzels made things a little weird, so when you make this at home (which you should!) we recommend just saving the pretzels on the side to eat on their own (a perfect dessert!)

 

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Black Bean, Cous Cous and Veggie Stuffed Peppers

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • 3 Bell Peppers
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • Pinch of Salt & Pepper
  • Cous Cous, cooked according to package directions (1 cup water + 1 Cup Cous Cous + 1 Tbsp butter + Salt)
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • 1/4 cup celery, diced
  • 1/2 cup carrots, diced
  • 1 zucchini quartered and sliced
  • 1 package of mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • oregano
  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 1/2 Can tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup Artichoke and Jalapeño Dip
  • 12 Tbsp Quatro Fromaggio (divided so each bell pepper gets 2 tbsp)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400˚F. Rinse bell peppers and slice in half. Remove seeds. Rub all sides with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place bell peppers skin side up on a lined baking sheet (parchment paper or foil). Bake for about 15-20 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add diced onion, celery and carrots. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and cook for a few more minutes. Then add mushrooms, butter, salt, pepper and oregano.
  3. Add 1 1/2 cup of the cooked cous-cous mixture (can save the rest to use as a salad topper), can of black beans, and tomato sauce. Let cook down for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked through. Mix in artichoke & jalapeño dip thoroughly.
  4. Remove roasted bell peppers from the oven. Turn over. Place 1 tbsp of Quattro Fromaggio cheese at the bottom, fill with 1/6 of the filling mixture, then finish with another tbsp of cheese.
  5. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.


Cherry Caprese Salad

Cherry Caprese Salad

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Recipe by Amanda Hibshman, RDN

Ingredients

  • 18 Reinier Cherries, pitted and halved
  • 1/2 package mozzarella balls (about 12), halved
  • Large handful of basil (about 20 leaves), Chopped
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • Fresh Ground Salt and Pepper (about 1/4 tsp each)
  • Balsamic Glaze
  • Optional (and not recommended): Chocolate covered Pretzels

Directions

  1. Rinse cherries, pit and halve them, Combine in a bowl with mozzarella balls and basil. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Garnish with balsamic glaze on top.
  2. We added the chocolate covered pretzels as the challenge for this dish, but it definitely didn’t do this beautiful and delicious salad any flavors. We made it again without the pretzels and it was so great. But the pretzels were fantastic on their own!


 

 

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