Stuffed Bell Peppers

There are numerous ways to make stuffed bell peppers. I sort of make it up each time.  But there are a few key ingredients that I think make them oh-so-good.  This is an easy meal and most people really like it- not too spicy, but not too bland either.  Enjoy!

Stuffed Bell Peppers:

1 lb. ground italian sausage (if you can't find it ground, you can buy italian sausage links, slice the peel and pull out the fillings- works just as well).

1/2 lb ground beef

1 small onion finely chopped

1 cup chopped mushrooms (portabello or white both work well)

4 large green bell peppers (try to find some that will stand on end- it'll make it easier)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

dried basil, oregano, thyme.

Cut the tops off the bell peppers and shake out the seeds.  I like to use what I cut off as part of the filling too, so cut into pieces all of what is on the top, except the stem and set aside for later.

In a large frying pan, brown the sausage, beef, and onions with the olive oil. When it is about half way done, add the mushrooms, and green pepper pieces. Also add the seasonings to taste. Drain, if needed.  When the meet is completely cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. 

Place all four peppers in a small baking dish or brownie pan. Fill each pepper to the brim with the meat mixture. If you want, you can add more cheese to the top.  Put the pan in the oven on broil until the peppers start to slightly char on the top.

I like to serve mine with a bed of white or brown rice- which compliments the flavors well.

Enjoy!

Spinach Strawberry Salad with Feta

It's nearly summer, so how about another salad post?  This one is so yummy, loaded with vitamins and nutrients, and has really strong flavors.

Ingredients:

Baby spinach
sliced fresh strawberries
walnuts or pecans (I like walnuts- and these are plain, not sugared)
feta cheese (adds a really rich texture to a sweet salad!)
avocado
hard boiled egg, sliced

Toss it all together and add your favorite vinaigrette dressing.  I love Briana's Blush Wine Vinaigrette (the one with the strawberry on the bottle) with it.  A good rasperry vinaigrette would be tasty too.

Super easy, but bursting with flavor... makes for happy taste buds.

Mandarin Poppyseed Salad

This salad is SOOO delicious!!  I've never met anyone who didn't love it and have at least seconds.  It's great for any family gathering, dinner party, or holiday.  It takes a little longer to make than a typical garden salad, but it is so worth it! Enjoy!!

(*note: if any of your guests are vegetarians or adverse to pork, you can leave out the bacon or serve it on the side.  But if you can leave it in, do! It adds a fabulous element to the flavor, and it isn't a lot per serving.)

Mandarin Salad

1/2 lb. bacon
1/2 c. sliced almonds
3 T. sugar
...

1 head green or red leaf lettuce
1 c. shopped celery
2 chopped green onions
1 11-oz. can Mandarin orange, drained
2-3 slices red onion, chopped
5-6 fresh mushroom, sliced
4-6 oz. Swiss cheese, grated

Dressing:

1/2 tsp. salt
Dash pepper
1/4 c. vegetable oil or canola
1 T. chopped parsley
2. T. sugar
2 T. red vinegar
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Poppy seeds

Chop bacon into small pieces and fry crisp. Drain on paper towel. In small pan over medium heat, cook almonds and sugar, stirring constantly until almonds are coated and sugar dissolved. Watch carefully as they will burn easily. Cool and store in air-tight container. Mix all dressing ingredients and chill. Mix all vegetables. Just before serving, add almonds, oranges, bacon and cheese. Toss with dressing.

Chicken Parm Bake

It's not chicken parmesan....it's better! It's a lot easier, less messy and so good! I found this recipe on Pinterest and we've eaten it twice since then.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
red pepper flakes, to taste
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (we used boneless skinless thighs)
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup chopped basil (I just liberally sprinkled dried basil)
8 oz mozzarella cheese
4 oz parmesan cheese (I just used the Kraft stuff in the can...I'm too cheap to use real parmesan)
1 pkg (5oz-ish) garlic croutons

Method:

1.) Drizzle oil, chopped garlic and red pepper flakes in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place raw chicken breasts on top. Just cram them in.

2.) Pour marinara sauce over the chicken and sprinkle basil.

3.) This is where I made a departure from the original recipe. Watch the video if you want the true non-Kirstenized recipe. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

4.) Take chicken out of the oven and add half the mozzarella and parm cheese. Top with croutons, then add the other half of the cheese. This is important. That layer of cheese separating the croutons keeps them from getting totally soggy and gross.

5.) Bake for 20 minutes more until cheese is nice and golden brown.

6.) Yum!!

PS: When I made this the first time, I followed the directions exactly and ended up with undercooked, bleedy chicken (Eww!) so I baked it longer. By the time the chicken was cooked through, the croutons and cheese were totally burned. So, the second time I made this I left the cheese and stuff off until the end, and that turned out much MUCH better.

Toffee-Pumpkin Cheesecake

I got this recipe from ourbestbites.com. They always have great recipes and wanted to share a picture or two of how my pie came out! It was DELISH by the way! May I also add, I could NOT find regular toffee chips ANYWHERE, so I had to settle for chocolate covered toffee chips and it still turned out wonderfully :o)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Toffee-Pumpkin Cheesecake
Slightly adapted from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
2 cups cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (just short of 2 sleeves)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 eggs, at room temperature
1 bag toffee bits
1 15-oz can pumpkin (or use homemade, it’s 1 3/4 cup)
3/4 cup whipping cream
2/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning
1/8 teaspoons salt
Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream for topping

Instructions:
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a 9 or 10″ springform pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix crumbs and butter. Press in bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in 2 of the eggs. Stir in 1 cup of the toffee bits. Spread over crust. Clean out your bowl (or by all means grab another one.)

Mix pumpkin, whipping cream, 2/3 cup sugar, the cinnamon, pumpkin pie seasoning, salt and remaining 3 eggs just until blended. Slowly and carefully spoon over cheesecake layer.

Bake for 2 hours or until edge of cheesecake is set at least 2 inches from edge of pan but center still jiggles slightly when moved. Turn oven off; open oven door at least 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes. Run spatula around edge of pan. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. Run spatula around edge of pan; remove side of pan. Pipe whipped topping or whipped cream around edges of cheesecake; sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.

Poverty Meal....Don't be fooled, it's actually good!

So, I was writing my grocery list last week and trying to think of something that uses pasta and all I was coming up with was lasagna and spaghetti and other things I do ALL THE TIME. A few keystrokes later, I found myself at food.com and discovered this lovely little recipe. The best part, aside from the deliciousness, is the cheapness and lack of weird ingredients and the good leftovers. The other best part is my kids inhaled it. My toddler actually cried when I showed him the empty pot after we had eaten all the leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced or some garlic powder if you don't feel like mincing garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb ground beef

2 (16 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes (I used one giant can of diced tomatoes) 

1 (16 ounce) can water (since I used a giant can, I only used half a can of water) 

8 ounces elbow macaroni, uncooked

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese (optional...but not really)

Method:

• Throw the onions, garlic, olive oil and uncooked ground beef into a really big frying pan, or in my case, a big pot. I also sprinkled some salt and pepper on. If you have really fatty beef, you might consider cooking it separately so you can drain it.
• Brown the beef and saute the onions until they are both cooked.
• Pour in the tomatoes (undrained...you'll want that liquid), water and macaroni. At this point I also added some basil and (heehee) a little hot sauce.
• Simmer on medium for 10-20 minutes, just until the pasta is cooked.
• Top with Parmesan cheese
• Yummmm!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I love this website! I find myself going there a lot to find fun recipes.
I stumbled across this taquito recipe (because my husband loves mexican food so much) so I thought...might as well give it a try!
It's amazing! The best part.....you can totally freeze it for later! So, all you mommy's to be, or all us lazy people...this right here is a great prepared meal for those times you just don't want to cook!

Recipe:
1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro (or less if you don't like cilantro, like me)
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas (I like flour tortillas the best)
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.