I love to add a little spice to my life, heat things up a bit, especially when it comes to the tongue! Poblanos Chiles are one of those delightful peppers that pack a punch while imparting a rich smokey taste that makes you want to eat the entire pan of whatever you have made with them - trust me, I had to stop myself after the first pepper!.

When thinking about heat, I often forget about this delightful pepper, especially since I have a ton of jalapenos still in the freezer from my summer CSA. However, yesterday I ran into my local farmers market to grab some apples and wandered over to the discount rack. Now if you are like me, you love a good bargain and you love vegetables! Eggplants that need to be baked in the next day, limes that need to be juiced, or peppers that need to be roasted right away do not daunt me, especially when a whole bag is 75 cents! Well lo and behold, they had a 75 cent bag of poblano peppers that were begging to be roasted and stuffed and I just couldn't resist. Now if I had been thinking straight I would have grabbed a lime and some cilantro to add to my dish but I was overwhelmed by this amazing deal and didn't think of it until mid preparation.

Poblanos are great because they are easy to stuff, in reality you could put anything inside of them and they would taste divine. This recipe stuffed these beauties with quinoa, onion, garlic, yellow peppers, corn, tomatoes, black beans, and goat cheese. The goat cheese is an awesome addition as it provides a cool, creamy, tang to counteract the heat.

After roasting the peppers and preparing the filling, I decided to place the peppers into a salsa style fire roasted tomato and bake it for 20 more minutes in order to blend all of the ingredients together, however, you could definitely skip this step if you are short on time or famished. I hope that you enjoy!

Roasted Poblanos stuffed with Quinoa, Corn, Black Beans, Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

3 Poblano Peppers, roasted with skins and seeds removed

1 cup Quinoa

2 cups Water

2 tbs Olive Oil

1 medium Onion, chopped

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

2 small yellow peppers, chopped

1 cup Black Beans

1 cup Corn

2 Roma Tomatoes, chopped

1 tbs Cumin

1 Tbs Chili Powder

Pink Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

4 oz Goat Cheese, Crumbled

1 can Salsa Style Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Turn the oven on Broil to preheat. Place the poblanos on a baking sheet and broil, turning every few minutes until the skins are blackened, about 10 minutes. Place in a brown paper or plastic bag for 5 minutes to steam. Preheat the over to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce to medium low and simmer for about 15 minutes or until all of the water is absorbed. Put aside.

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium high heat until glistening, add the onion, peppers, and garlic cooking until softened. Add the corn, beans, and tomatoes, stirring until heated through. Add the spices to the pan cooking for 1 minute more until fragrant. Add in the quinoa and stir to combine.

Taking the peppers out of the bag, run them under cold water to remove the skins. make a slice down one side with a sharp knife and remove the seeds. Try to keep the stem intact for easier stuffing.

Open the can of salsa style fire roasted tomatoes and place into a small baking dish.

Add 3 oz of the goat cheese to the quinoa and vegetables, stirring to combine. Carefully stuff the peppers with the quinoa mixture, placing them into the fire roasted tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining goat cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling. Enjoy and healthy eating!

Sometimes you just want some pizza. It doesn't matter how old you are, what diet you are on, where you are in the world, a hot slice of pizza is always delicious and welcoming. All that sauce and cheese and chewy crust makes something inside of you sing. That being said, eating pizza every night of the week is not recommended for your waistline or for your health!

Lately I have been craving pizza, but I also have been pretty lazy and don't want to actually go out and grab a slice, instead I wanted to create something that was equally as satisfying but a tad bit healthier and wouldn't leave me feeling like a rock was weighing me down.

Enter, spiralized noodles. Cauliflower crust has been floating around for awhile now and although it is good in its own right, I hate that it can't be picked up like a good slice of pizza so I have been on the search for an alternative crust. I won't lie, last night I tried making a spiralized zucchini crust and although it tasted amazing, it looked like a mess on a plate and definitely needed a fork. So today I tried again, this time using spiralized potatoes as the crust and what can I say, it was delightful! Inspiralized.com inspired this spiralized crust!

I loved the crispiness that the potatoes took on and the toppings were sophisticated and pleasing to the palate but best of all, you could pick it up!

The crust does take a little extra work but I think that it is worth it.

Spiralized Potato Crust Pizza with Hummus, Tomatoes, Spinach, Goat Cheese, and Olives

Crust

4 small Regular or Sweet Potatoes, spiralized

1 tsp Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

2 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Oregano

2 tbs Olive Oil

1 Egg

To prepare the crust, spiralize the potatoes. Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add the salt and 1 tsp of the garlic powder, stirring to combine. Add the potatoes to the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant.

Transfer to a bowl and add the egg, oregano and remainder of garlic powder, stir to coat all of the noodles. Place the noodles into a 10in frying pan and cover with plastic wrap. Place a larger pot over the pan and weight it down so that the noodles become condensed. Refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from the refrigerator and place the pan over medium high heat, cook for 5 or so minutes until browned. Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a second, larger frying pan. Invert the potato crust into that pan and cook for another 5 minutes.

Heat the broiler and add your toppings! In this instance I added hummus on the bottom layer, topped with baby spinach, sliced roma tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and kalamata olives then broiled for 5 minutes until the cheese was slightly melted.

Let the pizza stand for 5 minutes before cutting then enjoy and healthy eating!