Super Simple, Low Carb, Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers

Between me taxiing my kids to their after school activities, and my husband attending college classes, there is nobody home to make dinner on Mondays or Wednesdays.  This past Monday, I made a simple crockpot stuffed peppers.  I put it all together the night before, and it was all worth the little bit of time it took to get it ready when we arrived home on Monday night and dinner was ready.

Like my post on fruit leather, this can really be tweaked to your liking.  I just want to take you through my simple process to show you how doable eating healthy is, even when it seems like there’s no time to make dinner.

Sunday night, once I got the kids into bed, I started browning 1 -1/2 lbs ground beef.  Exact measurements aren’t necessary.  You could use 1 lb for less meat, or 2 lbs for meatier stuffed peppers.  While I was browning my ground beef, I added 1 teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of pepper, and a teaspoon of sage.  You can tweak the seasonings to your liking.

 I added a cup of riced cauliflower (grated cauliflower) to the ground beef.  You could use rice, but I prefer to avoid grains the majority of the time.  It’s also lower carb.  A lot of people associate low carb with weight-loss, which is definitely an added benefit.  Yet, there are so many more benefits to keeping your carbs down and avoiding grains, as much as possible.  Not only that, but cauliflower packs more nutrition than rice.

I added 3 cups of cole slaw mix to the ground beef mixture.  If you added more ground beef, you may want to add less vegetables, and add more vegetables if you added less ground beef.  You can really get creative here, though.  You could add chopped zucchini, mushrooms, onions, carrots, etc…  It can be a ton of fun, and so good for you!  Your body will thank you from top to bottom!  Whatever yummy veggies you choose to add is great.  Mix them into the ground beef mixture.

At this point I took out my 5 green peppers, cut off the tops, and hollowed them out.  All 5 didn’t quite fit in my little crockpot, so I cut one of them up and stuffed the pieces in the cracks.  My youngest needs it cut up, anyway.  Once you have the green peppers situated, stuff them with the ground beef/veggie mixture.  Once the green peppers are stuffed, you can add the remaining ground beef/veggie mixture in between and on top of the green peppers.

I poured 15 oz of tomato sauce over mine.  You can use store bought or homemade.  With store bought, be mindful of the sugar content and other hidden ingredients.  Obviously, homemade is best, but I’ll let you in on a little secret — Mine is store bought!  What can I say?  It’s all about balance.

I topped mine with thin slices of cheese.  I don’t tolerate all dairy, but things with a low lactose content, I can handle well.  You can definitely omit the cheese if you prefer, but it sure is tasty!  Anyway, once I got the cheese in there, I actually put it in the fridge.  Remember, I’d made it the day before I needed it.  However, the next day, before heading out, I put it in the crockpot on low.  When we returned home, 3 hours later, it was delicious!

My picture above isn’t great.  We all started eating before I remembered to take a picture.  I had to hurry and snap this picture of my son’s second helping.

The picture above shows how they look cut open.  They’re so tasty!  I’ve done fancier, more complicated recipes for stuffed peppers, and they are great.  However, for me, in my life, simple recipes serve me so much better.  I love a simple fix it and forget it recipe.  It’s great to come home to a home cooked meal, without stressing over dinner at all that day!