Healthy Stuffed Peppers with Ham and Cheese {Low Carb + Gluten Free}
These healthy stuffed peppers are made with cauliflower rice to keep them low carb! They’re stuffed with ham and cheese for a comforting, weeknight dinner!
IT’S BOXING DAY!
I know, I KNOW. All you ‘mericans are like “WHAT IS BOXING DAY? Is it the day that we all have to give up our houses and start living in boxes due to the fact that Christmas, although WONDEROUS AND FULL OF AWESOME, is SO DARN EXPENSIVE?”
No, it is not that. Boxing Day is the Canadian Equivalent to Black Friday. ALL THE DEALS.
Anyway. I’m in Canada still, so I thought you may want to know about the happenings up north. AND that we do things other than eat maple syrup and have sled dog racing contests all day long.
Now you know.
SO! HOW WAS CHRISTMAS? WHAT DID YOU GET? Mine was full of cookies, family, love and cups full of beverages that made me feel merry inside.
Basically, the most perfect Christmas that there ever was.
We had a gingerbread decorating house couple competition between me and The Hubs, and my brother and his fiancee. Ours took the prize for color. There’s got the prize for composition. BUT, my brother is a graphic designer.
I can’t compete with that kind of design prowess.
And yes, there were some cocktails involved. It helps with the creativity 
OH and I got an IHOP gift card. My family knows me so well! <3
Now, I’m going to be completely honest with you. I don’t have any super clever-whoa-how-does-she-always-do-that segue for you today. It’s extremely hard to make Chicken Cordon Bleu (<– hey, look, we bein’ fancy French people today) + healthy Stuffed peppers relate to the best Holiday that there was in all the Milky Ways of the world.
Which is only one. Whatever. You get it.
HOW-EV-ER, I can relate to these here stuffed peppers to one thing. Let me spell it for ya:
D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.
I’m sure that most have you have had the winner of a dinner that Chicken Cordon Bleu is. It’s fancy French terminology for a stuffed chicken breast recipe with ooey-gooey cheesy numsnums which is then mixed with ham and covered in some sort of crispety crunchety magic.
AAAANNNND I’m sure that you’ve had a stuffed pepper. They usually have some sort of meaty, carby, starchy thing and ALL DA SAWWWCEEE. We’ve eaten them around these parts in the form of low carb ketp philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers!
Basically, they are food stuffed into MORE FOOD. Remember the cheesecake baked apples? You know how I feel about food x TWO.
It’s a good thing.
Did anyone else think of Martha Stewart right there? I really am an 80 year old in a 24 year olds body.
#thisis24
The carby-comforty-crispety-crunchety-food loving person inside of me loves both of these meals. BUT, the lets-be-healthy-inside-and-outside person inside of me battles how to handle aforementioned meals.
Because I apparently have two personalities, I decided to please them both and COMBINE the two, AND make it healthy with some cauliflower rice.
I’m pretty sure that cauliflower can do all things, and solve all the world problems. World peace? BRING IT ON.
If you think that’s a little bit of an over exaggeration, I know one problem that it most DEFINITELY can solve:
Tummy grumblies.
Low Carb Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Low Carb Stuffed Peppers taste like chicken cordon bleu but healthy. Nutritious and delicious.
Servings 8
Calories 175kcal
Ingredients
For the Peppers:
- 4 large Red Bell Peppers
- pinch of Salt
For the Stuffing:
- 2 1/2 cups Cauliflower Roughly chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
- 12 slices thin-cut lean deli ham Divided
- 1 1/4 cups Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese Grated and Divided
- Salt and Pepper To taste
For the Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1 tablespoon White Whole Wheat Flour Or all purpose
- 1/2 cup 2% Milk
- 1 cube Vegetable Bouillon 1 teaspoon
- 2 teaspoons Dry White Wine
- 1/2 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
For the Peppers:
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray a small baking dish with cooking spray.
- Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and gently scrape out the seeds. Cook the peppers in the boiling water until just fork tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside to dry.
- Roughly chop 4 slices of deli ham and set aside. The remaining 8 slices will be used to line the peppers.
- Place the chopped cauliflower into a small food processor and process until finely chopped and the cauliflower has the consistency of rice (you should have about 2 cups of cauliflower “rice.”) Transfer to a medium bowl and microwave the cauliflower “rice” for 3 minutes.
- Stir the paprika into the cooked cauliflower until evenly incorporated. Then add in 3/4 cup of the grated Swiss cheese and chopped ham. Mix until everything is evenly incorporated.
- Place the peppers into the baking dish, cut side up. Place one slice of ham into each cut pepper.
- Spoon the cauliflower mixture evenly between all 8 of the halved peppers, really pressing the mixture down into each. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of grated Swiss cheese.
- Cover the peppers with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
For the Sauce:
- While the peppers bake, melt the butter in a small sauce pan on low heat. Whisk in the flour, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth, creamy and golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Combine the milk, bouillon, wine, mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a small measuring cup and heat just until warm in the microwave, to help dissolve the bouillon.
- Once the butter is smooth, whisk the milk mixture in, stirring frequently, until the sauce lightly thickens about, about 7-10 mins.
- Spoon the sauce over the peppers and DEVOUR!
Nutrition
Calories: 175kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 917mg | Potassium: 295mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 264IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 199mg | Iron: 1mg
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