Guacamole Stuffed Peppers

Last week I noticed a new item at my local grocery store, a bag of small, bright colored, sweet peppers. I picked up a bag with the thought that something that cute and vibrant had to be used in a new dish!

When I got home I realized I had purchased a bag of avocados last week that were now perfectly ripe, and so the guacamole stuffed peppers were born!

This dish is not only delicious, it’s also gluten free, vegan and paleo making it the perfect party appetizer for all guests!

Ingredients

• 10-12 small sweet peppers
• 3 avocados
• 1 small tomato (chopped)
• 1/4 onion (chopped)
• 1 lime (juiced)
• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro (chopped)
• 1 serrano chili (minced)

Begin by slicing the tops off of the peppers and cutting them in half, removing the white membrane and seeds from inside.

Next, place the peppers on the grill over medium heat for 7-8 minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool while preparing the guacamole.

Prepare the guacamole by removing the avocado from the shell and smashing in a small bowl.

Next add the tomatoes and onions.

Add the lime juice, cilantro and serrano chili, then mix well to combine.

Spoon the guacamole into each pepper.

Simple as that, you have a beautiful, easy and healthy dish to serve as an afternoon snack or appetizer!

With all the beautiful bright colors in this dish, it just screams summer to me! Am I the only one super excited for shorts everyday, pool parties and BBQs?

♣ Vegetarian Option: Omit the ahi to make this recipe vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♠ Paleo Option: This recipe is paleo.

Caribbean Mango Avocado Ahi Lettuce Wraps

This recipe is the second in my low sodium series for Channel 6 San Diego tomorrow morning! Check out the first recipe in the series here: Strawberry Ricotta Salad.

I knew I wanted to create something other than just salads for the segment so I decided that lettuce wraps would be a perfect alternative to traditional wraps or sandwiches because lettuce contains virtually no sodium!

This entire dish contains only 60 mg of sodium, which is about 7 mg per lettuce cup!  That’s a whole lot of delicious without a whole lot of sodium!

Ingredients

• 1 mango (diced)
• 1 avocado (diced)
• 1/2 red onion (diced)
• 1/2 lb fresh sushi-grade ahi tuna (diced)
• 1 lime (juiced)
• 1 tbsp Enzo Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 head butter lettuce

Begin by combining the mango, avocado, red onion and ahi in a small bowl. Next squeeze the lime juice over the mixture, then drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle the cilantro and black pepper on top.

Stir together, then spoon the mixture into leaves of butter lettuce.

♣ Vegetarian Option: Omit the ahi to make this recipe vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♠ Paleo Option: This recipe is paleo.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Strawberry Ricotta Salad

This salad is the first of 3 new low-sodium recipes I’ll be adding to Little Leopard Book in the next 24 hours!

Why the surge of new low sodium dishes you ask? Because I’ve been asked to host a low sodium cooking demonstration and segment on San Diego 6 News tomorrow morning!

This will be the first live cooking demo for myself and Little Leopard Book and I could not be more excited!  If you’re in San Diego, tune in at 8:20 AM.  If you’re elsewhere in the world, look for a link to the video on our Facebook page tomorrow afternoon!

You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter for live updates leading up to the segment tomorrow morning!

Now on to this delicious salad recipe!

In addition to being low sodium, the news station asked that the dishes I prepare be easy to make, consist of only a few ingredients and require no cooking. My mind immediately went to a fresh, summer salad!

Most of the sodium in a salad comes from the cheese and the salad dressing. The first step in creating a salad low in sodium is making your own salad dressing. The dressing I created for this recipe contains only 5 mg of sodium per cup.  Compare that to a light Italian dressing purchased in the bottle which is 380 mg for 2 tablespoons and you’re saving some serious sodium intake!

Ricotta cheese, as well as mozzarella cheese are the lowest in sodium of all cheeses, so I sprinkled that on top to give the salad a little creaminess.  The entire salad contains only 140 mg of sodium, making it a delicious low sodium choice for a scrumptious lunch or fantastic side dish at summer BBQ’s!

Ingredients

• 2 cups spinach
• 1/4 cup strawberries (stems removed and sliced)
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1 tomato
• 1/4 cup ricotta cheese (crumbled)

Lemon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 lemon (zested and juiced)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup Enzo Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

Begin by whisking the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, zest, and black pepper together. Next, add the olive oil while whisking well to combine.

Next, add the spinach to a large bowl, then add the strawberries, blueberries and pecans. Top with the crumbled ricotta cheese.

Serve with 1/4 cup of the salad dressing and reserve the rest.  This salad dressing will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

I decided to add a little protein with a sliced piece of Lemon Rosemary Basil Grilled Chicken.

Leave out the steak seasoning in my recipe for Lemon Grilled Chicken and one chicken breast only adds 70 mg of sodium to the salad, keeping it at approximately 200 mg of sodium total.

The recommended intake of sodium is around 2,000 mg per day, but can vary based on age, gender, height and weight.

Leave off the cheese and this recipe is also paleo!

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian without the chicken.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♠ Paleo Option: Omit the ricotta cheese to make this recipe paleo.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Kale Pesto

I’m a HUGE pesto fan and a recently converted Kale fan! For the sake of full disclosure I will admit that I’m a somewhat finicky kale fan.  I don’t enjoy it raw.  It’s too bitter and I’m not a huge fan of the texture either, but I do love it steamed and now I also love it as pesto!

I first made this delicious, healthy pesto sauce for my Kale Pesto Spaghetti with Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomatoes recipe, but now use the sauce all the time on my favorite pastas and pizzas!

I recently served it with Three Cheese Basil Raviolis and Pistachio Basil Crusted Tilapia. So delicious!

Ingredients (makes 1 1/2 cups)

• 4 cups kale (chopped)
• 6 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup parmesan

Begin preparing the pesto by adding the kale, garlic and cashews to a blender or food processor.

Blend for 30 seconds.

Next add the salt, pepper, olive oil and water and blend until all the ingredients have been incorporated.

Finally add the parmesan cheese and pulse for 5-10 seconds to combine.

Now you have all the health benefits of kale, such as cancer prevention, lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure in a delicious sauce!

One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6, 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.*

This recipe has 4 cups of the good stuff in it! That’s a lot of vitamins

*Source: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/the-truth-about-kale

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♠ Paleo Option: Omit the parmesan cheese to make this recipe paleo.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Green Chili Avocado Salsa

This “awesome sauce” has become so popular that I decided it needed it’s own page on LLB!

I originally made this salsa to go on top of my Sweet Corn and Chicken Tamales. Yes, salsa, not sauce.  I recently learned from an amazing Mexican Chef  that the difference between salsa and sauce is salsa is not cooked and sauce is cooked. If you already knew this then pin-a-rose-on-your-nose smarty pants!  If you didn’t, there was your fun fact for the day

Needless to say my roommates immediately named this salsa “Awesome Sauce” completely contradicting what I just told you! They were right though, this SALSA is AWESOME!  I’m not bragging here because there was really no culinary skill involved, I just got lucky!

After the 4 hour long tamale making process I realized I had completely forgot about making a salsa or sauce to go on the tamales so I just started pulling stuff out of my fridge and throwing it in a bowl! The result: