Lean Green Pasta Salad!(easy)

 This dish is packed with healthy goodness!

Things you'll need
1/2 bag of baby spinach
half a head of iceberg lettuce
1 crown Broccoli florets (raw)
1 small onion
8 pepperoncini peppers sliced(if you don't like them, or don't have any, a shake of red pepper flakes will do)
green olives
2 celery stalks
1 box whole wheat penne pasta
3 oz Feta cheese
Lemon
Garlic powder
Dried oregano
favorite italian dressing(I use Good seasons all natural italian, it comes in a packet just add, oil,vinegar water)
a few dashes of grated parmesan cheese

Step 1
Start by chopping your iceberg lettuce and throw it in a bowl with the baby spinach


Step 2
Wash your broccoli and chop it into florets, thinly slice your onion, thinly slice the pepperoncini peppers, do the same with the celery, chop up 3 oz feta, add some green olives, garlic powder,oregano and coat lightly with italian dressing.mix it up good!

Step 3
Once the pasta is done, drain it and mix it in with the salad (if you want it warm add it right away) If you want it chilled let it cool so it doesn't wilt the lettuce, take one lemon(make sure to get all the pits out) and squeeze all the juice onto the salad and pasta add any other additional seasonings to taste, this is great warm or chilled, but if you serve it chilled, I suggest taking it out of the fridge and letting it get to room tempeture.

Mangia!

Mini stuffed sweet Peppers!

   Fun colorful party food!

Almost gone! Had a ravenous crowd! 

Things you'll need;

• 24 mini sweet peppers
• 
  
• 8 ounce of regular cream cheese, or the choice of your preference,I used a light version. If you have a vegan melting cheese, go for it!
• 
  
• 1/4 cup shredded sharp chedder cheese or regular
• 
  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 
  
• 8-10 Baby Portobello mushrooms(or white)
• 
  
• 1 large elephant garlic clove(or 2-3 regular cloves)
• 
  
• 1/4 purple onion
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• couple of shakes garlic powder
• couple of shakes onion powder
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• salt & pepper to taste

Baking pan

*You can make it vegan, just sub the cheese with your favorite vegan brand!

Easy Directions;

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Take the cream cheese out of the packet and let it soften, shred the chedder or (buy shredded chedder) and set aside.
• Now, you want to take your peppers and chop the top of their heads off! Make sure to get all the seeds out, (there shouldn't be too many) once done set aside.
• Now, take your mushrooms and mince them. Take your onion and garlic, and mince that too! Put a little bit of vegetable oil in a skillet, about 1-2 tablespoons. Preheat the skillet on a medium to high heat, when that's hot enough add the mushrooms,onion and garlic mixture and cook till moisture is gone. Add a few dashes of salt while cooking. 
• Once that's done, put the mushroom mixture in a bowl and let it cool (10-15 minutes) Once that that has cooled, add the mix to your bowl of cheese and the rest of the ingredients and mix well. 
• Take a plastic ziplock bag put your mixture in it to make a piping tool, snip a little piece at the corner of the bag off and start stuffing your Peppers!! Once Peppers are stuffed, sprinkle with paprika. and put those babies in the oven for around 30-35 minutes! Once done, let sit for 3 minutes so the inside isn't scolding hot- and serve!

Tips;

*If you dont want to make the piping bag-I do NOT suggest using a little spoon to stuff these with because they are narrow and that will be messy, however, you can make a little slit lenghtwise and stuff them like that!-and in the summer months, you can grill these too! *If you have company,-and have some chives on hand chop those up and serve sprinkled on top.


*I think another nice addition to the mix, would be diced celery!