How to diet fast 1 week

I want to share one more recipe before I take most of next week off the enjoy the holidays with my family, and if you're making any kind of formal dinner this week, I recommend this Christmas Rice with Bell Peppers, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts as the perfect holiday side dish.  The rice is loaded with flavor from red and green peppers, thinly sliced green onions, Parmesan, pine nuts, and just the right seasonings.  It cooks in the oven (along with your main dish if you'd like) and doesn't require much watching.   And of course it's red and green, which is always fun for this time of year.   And before I talk more about the recipe, let me wish all my readers and friends a great holiday season, plenty of time with those you love, and lots of delicious food in 2013!

Sometimes I think outside the box a little when I'm staring into the fridge wondering what to make with what I have on hand, and that's what happened with this Green Bean Summer Salad with Italian Sausage, Olives, and Basil Vinaigrette.  I don't really know what made me combine these flavors, except I had fresh green beans and turkey Italian sausage that needed to be used, and I think olives and basil vinaigrette would taste good with just about anything.  All I can say is, it worked.  I'm calling this a "summer" salad because I wouldn't make this unless I had fresh green beans, but if you like all these flavors, be open minded and give this a try!

This Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado has a dressing that's seasoned with green chile salsa.

I'm a big fan of taco salad, so recently when my niece and cooking assistant Kara was doing the Whole 30 challenge, I thought it would be fun to come up with a taco salad that's Whole 30 approved.  I also wanted a taco salad that didn't have beef, and this delicious Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado is the combination we came up with.   Simmering the meat with green chile salsa and other seasonings, using a little of the same salsa to add flavor to the dressing, plus adding green and red bell peppers and finely chopped fresh Poblano chiles to the salad greens gives this salad a lot of savory chile flavor with just a little heat.  Kara and I both loved the flavor of this turkey taco meat mixture; if you have family members who don't want salad it would be delicious inside tortillas for regular tacos as well.

This Tuna and Macaroni Salad Recipe with Dill Pickles, Capers, and Green Onions is something I came up with one day when I was hungry and wanted to cook with pantry ingredients.  I usually take photos and write down the recipe when I'm experimenting in the kitchen, but even though I did that, I wasn't sure I would post this recipe, because after all, does the world really need another recipe for Tuna and Macaroni Salad?  Then I noticed that all day after I made this I kept going back to the fridge to get a little more of the salad, and the next day when my nephew Jake came over he ate a big bowl full, and I decided this tuna and macaroni salad was really pretty fabulous.  Flavor additions here include a generous amount of chopped dill pickles, capers, and green onions, but I think it's the dressing that's a mixture of mayo, olive oil drained from the tuna, lemon juice, dill pickle juice, and Spike Seasoning that makes this salad so spectacular.

I promised one more idea for a red-and-green dish to celebrate the holidays, but Southwestern Stuffed Peppers with Black Beans and Green Chiles will make a delicious dinner any time of year.  This recipe uses my favorite techniques for stuffed peppers.  First, I start with raw peppers so they aren't too soft by the time the filling cooks.  Second, I trim the bottom ends of the peppers flat so they stand up in the dish.  Third, I chop the trimmed parts to add more pepper flavor to the filling, which in this recipe includes black beans, diced green chiles, cooked rice, tomatoes, and grated cheese.