Red Pepper Sammies (No Bread)

I love making bread. I love eating bread. I love the way it smells. I love its versatility. Basically, I love everything about bread.

However, I've been trying out recipes that will reduce the amount of carbohydrates and sugars that we eat. I have a family history of diabetes and recently found out that my blood sugar levels were not where they needed to be. (Not much of a surprise after the last year in culinary school)

Lowering our carbohydrate intake is a dietary change that I hope to make and stick to in 2015.

I don't believe in going cold turkey so I've been slowly reducing bread and grains in our diet over the last few weeks. I've found a few good recipes but I'm having a hard time letting go of sandwiches. I know I'm never going to give bread or grains up entirely but I have been looking for some good sandwich alternatives.

I found the inspiration for Red Pepper Sammies on Pinterest. The original dish I found was for skinny philly cheese steak stuffed peppers. I'll probably make those eventually since they look delicious, but to test the idea out I used what I had at home.

I cut 2 large red peppers in half lengthwise.

After placing them in a baking dish I added a layer of some sweet potato noodles I had left over. Sweet potato noodles are a new favorite.

Next, I added about 3 oz of leftover jerk chicken, a few slices of red onion, and 1/2 an ounce of smoked Gouda.

I baked them in the oven for 25 minutes at 350. Since I wanted to pick the peppers up and eat them like a sandwich the pepper to stay a bit crisp. If you want to eat them with a fork and knife, cook them for 35-40 minutes.

For a side, I made some roasted brussels sprouts. I might be going on a bit of a brussels sprout bender after not having  them for nearly 2 months! I tossed the brussels sprouts in a bit of melted butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I baked them along with the peppers and switched the oven to broil for the last 5 minutes while the peppers cooled.

Is this dish a sandwich replacement? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Yes!

The Red Pepper Sammies even received Charlie's highest form of praise-"I'd eat this again."

Approximate Nutritional Info:

Calories: 460
Fat: 17g
Carbs: 31g
Fiber: 9g
Protien: 46g