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!

About six years ago I discovered an affordable brand of Tuna packed in olive oil that really made me swoon, and since then I've made many tasty recipes featuring this tuna.   It's turned me into a bit of a tuna snob, because now I never buy any other brand (and when I could no longer find it in any of the stores by my house I even started buying Tonno Genova Tuna in Olive Oilby the case from Amazon.com!)  Without this uber-flavorful tuna, I don't think I'd have considering trying a pasta recipe that featured tuna as one of the main ingredients, but the Tonno Genova tuna made this simple and quick Penne Pasta with Red Bell Peppers, Garlic, Capers, Olives, Tomatoes, and Tuna really memorable.  And then Jake and I topped it with some ultra-flavorful Gremolata, which made it even better.  Admittedly, this may be a recipe that's not for everyone, but if you like tuna and have a favorite brand I bet you'll love this recipe.

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.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this recipe for Low Carb Stuffed Peppers with Turkey Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Mozzarella is something I love to make and freeze individually for quick meals later.  This recipe was featured in January 2012 for a Month of Daily Phase One Recipes, and it's been a big hit ever since.)

If you watch the left sidebar where it shows the most visited recipes, you might have noticed that Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are almost always there as one of the most-visited recipes.  Who knew stuffed peppers were so popular?  That recipe contains rice, but I also love this version of Phase One Stuffed Peppers and I recently made it again with Jake to update the photos.  We each enjoyed one, and then I had leftovers with my brother Mark, who also thought they were great.  This recipe makes six peppers, and this is the type of thing I'd make ahead and keep in the freezer to take for lunch when I was teaching school, so even if you're only cooking for one or two people I recommend making the whole recipe and freezing some. 

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.