I was so excited to come home to a box full of organic fresh produce from Backyard Produce! Backyard Produce hand selects the best local and organic produce, meats, dairy, breads, and cheeses! They make it so easy for the person on the go, or simply anyone looking for a great local food you can trust! Backyard Produce uses a unique point system allowing you to customize your weekly box to the needs of your family size. You select the items you want delivered that week, and wallah!! Fresh box of goodies delivered straight to your door! There is a HUGE list of options to choose from, some of which I can’t even find in the grocery store! My box came with fresh romaine lettuce, green beans, green peppers, red potatoes, and an acorn squash! I immediately made a huge Cesar salad with the romaine lettuce because it was late and I was looking for a quick meal to fix! I used the leftover lettuce at snack time and wrapped up some turkey and cheese in it! I simply steamed the green beans, and roasted the red potatoes, so no hard task there!
In attempts to use what I had in the fridge I made what I’ll call ground beef green peppers, which is super quick, and super good! You can substitute the beef with turkey, chicken, and anything you want!
Ground Beef Green Peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
3 bell peppers, cut in half with seeds removed
sliced up pepper jack cheese
1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and caramelized. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Stir in the salt, cayenne, and Balsamic.
Fill the peppers with the ground beef mixture, top with the cheese, and lay in a baking dish. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until your cheese is melted to perfection!
Now for my favorite part, the acorn squash! This squash is so delicious you can eat it as a side dish, or even a dessert! Sweet and savory!
Sweet Roasted Acorn Squash
One acorn squash
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Halve squash lengthwise and remove seeds and strings (do not get rid of those seeds!! We’re going to roast those suckers). Arrange halves, cut sides down, in a shallow baking dish and cover with foil; bake 30 minutes.
Turn squash cut side up; top each half with 1 tablespoon butter, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and then sprinkle with nutmeg.
Bake 30 more minutes, or until squash is tender. Scoop flesh from skin and serve! Or…you can eat it like I did and straight from the squash!
Now for the seeds! One of the things I LOVE about squashes are the seeds! I NEVER discard them and always roast them! A trick I learned is after you rinse the seeds leave them in a bowl of water with salt over night. This will help with the flavor! Then all you need to do is preheat your oven to 250-300 degrees F to roast them! The slower the better. Toss the seeds in olive oil, salt, and pepper and put on a sprayed pan. Roast for 1-2 hours and you have yourself a healthy little snack. I like mine “overdone” and super crunchy, so gauge it however you like it!
Do yourself a favor and go check out Backyard Produce at www.byproduce.com. Not only will you get fresh organic food delivered to your doorstep, but you’ll get the privilege of knowing you’re helping your local farmers. Locally grown food tastes better, looks better, and the crops are picked at their peak to provide the best flavor you can get! Sign up at www.byproduce.com today to get your box of Backyard Produce!
A big thanks to Backyard Produce for sponsoring this post!