Lunch Inspiration

I've been out of town for a couple weeks and while I was gone, my husband decided to try to clean out the pantry and fridge, use up all the food and not buy groceries until I got back.  So, needless to say, my pantry and fridge are pretty bare!  My precious daughter-in-law, Brandi, is such a creative cook.  When I told her I needed to buy groceries, she said "That's when you have to get creative with what you have."  So, with Brandi as my inspiration, I made an interesting lunch today that I probably would never have made if I'd had more groceries on hand.  With 3/4 of a bell pepper, 1/2 of a jalapeno, some wilted cilantro, 1 and a half tomatoes, a small piece of old cheese, and some leftover grocery-store rotisserie chicken, I made some superb CHICKEN STUFFED PEPPERS.  I took all the meat I could get off the leftover chicken and chopped it up very fine.  I chopped the jalapeno, 1/2 tomato, and a couple sprigs of cilantro (you could use fresh, but mine was pretty sadly wilted).  Mixed all the chopped ingredients together and sprinkled with onion powder and garlic powder, salt & pepper, and some parmesan cheese.  Drizzled the mixture with olive oil and packed it into the bell pepper which I had cut in half.  Drizzled the top with more olive oil and sprinkled on some grated monterrey jack cheese.  I put these in the oven on 375 for about 15-20 minutes, til the cheese was melted and the filling was warm.

We also had part of a cantaloupe, an avocado, and a mango, so that mixture served as a side dish.  For a beverage, I made MANGO LEMONADE.  I took one whole lemon, cut it in half and removed as many seeds as I could; threw that in the blender with a few slices of mango, some ice, water and a little bit of Splenda. 

Everything turned out so delicious.  My husband said it was better than anything you could get at a restaurant!!  So I think from now on, I'm only going to buy groceries once every couple months.  I'll let the pantry and fridge get really empty, then see what I can come up with!