Light Fiesta Casserole Lunch Recipe

Today is Sunday, it is a day that I start with worship time in the morning and fellowship with my church family. It is also the first day of the week, and that includes prepping my meals for the week. My meals for the week are similar from week to week when it comes to lunch, the reason being it is easy to reheat or if I am on the road, eat cold from my cooler, it may not sound appetizing eating a cold lunch that is intended to be hot, but my end goal is nourishing my body in a timely matter.  When preparing my lunches for the week, I go with a lean ground poultry meat, whether it is chicken or turkey, no preference, I just go with what is available in the stores. I am careful to choose the leanest option, check the back nutrition label to be sure, one time I did not check and it was 8 grams of fat per serving! I want the fat in my food to come from primarily monousaturated fat in sources such as almonds, flax oil and avocados. I also incorporate a vegetable for my lunch which is either green beans, spinach (or both) along with a complex carb or starch such as brown rice or half a sweet potato. I divide the cooked lean meat into 4-5 servings along with the rice and veggie and voila! I have my meals made for the week.

So this week, I was making a casserole for a church potluck and decided to make a healthier version (it wasn't unhealthy to begin with, I swapped out a leaner meat, brown rice instead of white, and greek yogurt instead of sour cream) for my own lunches during the week. I usually go through my fridge and try to use up any veggies that need to be used and incorporate those for the week. I had some organic baby spinach that I needed to use up so that is included in this recipe but is completely optional.

I made what tasted like a stuffed pepper without the pepper "shell."

Light Fiesta Casserole Lunch

1 whole red or green pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 cups of fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 lb Ground chicken or turkey breast
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
1/2 t. Oregano
1/2 t. Cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste
Garlic powder
1/4 cup Grana Padano cheese (or fresh parmesan)
2 cups brown rice, cooked as directed
1/2 cup Greek yogurt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saute pan, pour a small amount of olive oil in the pan over medium heat. Add onions and peppers and saute in oil for a few minutes. Add baby spinach to pepper and onion mixture, stir until spinach wilts. Add ground poultry to pan and brown meat until cooked. Add seasonings and can of diced tomatoes and thier juice. In a separate bowl, mix greek yogurt with cooked rice, set aside. In a 9 X 13 pan, spread rice mixture on bottom of pan, pour contents of saute pan over rice and sprinkle with cheese. Place pan uncovered in preheated oven for 30 minutes and cheese is melted. Makes 6 servings. For make-ahead lunches, place in 6 individual glass containers for easy reheating. Serve with small spinach salad or cup of steamed or roasted vegetables such as broccoli or asparagus.