Mexican Style Stuffed Peppers...

Last night I tried my hand at a different stuffed pepper recipe. Lately when I have made "traditional" stuffed peppers they have been kind of "blegh"...so I thought lets kick it up a little. 


Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 6 medium green or sweet red pepper
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 1-1/4 cups salsa, divided
• 1 tablespoon chopped green chilies
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
• 
  
• Directions
• Cut tops off peppers and discard; remove seeds. In a Dutch oven or large kettle, cook
• peppers in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water; set aside.  In a nonstick skillet, cook the beef, onion and celery over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the rice, 1 cup salsa, chilies, chili powder and salt. Spoon into peppers.
• Place in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Add 1/4 cup water to dish. Cover and bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese and top with remaining salsa. Bake 2-3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 6 servings.

Ok...for my "alterations" to this one. 

• I only did 4 peppers because they were gigantic peppers (thank you Brigottas)
• I did not have any green chilies on hand so they were not a part of this
• I only used maybe 1 tsp of chili powder...last time I followed a recipe when it came to chili powder I couldn't see straight because my eyes were watering
• I also added a small can of V8 juice because the rice/meat mixture just seemed too dry...
• no mexican cheese blend...just good old fashioned shredded cheddar tonight
• I also only cooked them for maybe 30 minutes in an 8x8 pan since I was doing four instead of six...AND I "pre-cooked" the peppers in the microwave, we don't have a dutch oven (I keep meaning to get one of those :op)

They were definitely very good...so good that Aaron said they were by far, and this recipe is by far, his favorite when it comes to Stuffed Peppers for dinner.

I made cheesy garlic bread to go with it...

Overall, another successful recipe! Woo hoo :O)


Recipe from Taste of Home 

Time to catch up...

It certainly feels like the end of the school year...and boy was that evident today. Lots of tests, lots of flashcard making, study guide making, and study games being played. In between that, Memorial Weekend, a wedding, and a picnic/bbq I managed to do a few things (both in the crafty and cooking department).

Recently Aaron and I disagreed on whether something would fit in the trunk of my car. He was adamant that said item would NOT fit...and I was pretty sure it would...or at least I wanted to try. With some quasi-reverse psychology I told him that if he could get the item to fit I would make him a Boston Cream Pie (one of his favorites). It fit of course...and so Boston Cream Pie it was.

Instead of making an entire cake I decided to make mini cakes. I made a yellow cake mix, custard, and a chocolate ganache...and went for it.

Here's the process pictorially...

I also made one kick butt dinner the other night...Chiavettas Chicken Shish Kabobs...check out these beauties :O) And these were definitely NOT premade at the store, even though Wegmans does do a fine job...these were made by moi.

The wedding I spoke about earlier...well I made the gift for the happy couple.
I took a few ideas I saw floating around here in blog world and made them my own...

And up close all together...

A refashion...

I have this issue with buying jean capris...

The issue is: I can't.

They either end up having a huge gap in the back...which I hate...ooorrrr they look like mom-pants, and I'm not there yet.

So...instead I decided to take a pair of jeans I no longer wear and refashion them.

Turned out pretty well I think...

Before:





















And after....

Sweet and Tangy Pot Roast

Recent recipe:

Last night we had "Sweet 'n Tangy Pot Roast"...I used the crock pot and cooked it slowly so it just fell apart last night.

Here she is...
Ingredients
1 boneless beef chuck roast (about 3 lbs)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup water
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup red wine (or beef broth)
1 envelope brown gravy mix
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Directions:
Cut meat in half and place in slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a bowl, combine the water, ketchup, wine or broth, gravy mix, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder.  Pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 9-10 hours or until meat is tender.

I normally do NOT buy the pre-mixed rice type of side dishes, but I had a coupon AND it was on sale so it was only about  $.98. So Uncle Ben's Wild Rice it was...plus green beans.

AND we were able to eat out on the porch last night.......YAY SUMMER!!













Try this out:
My Stick Family

Breakfast Burritos

Mmmmm these were soooo yumm-o.


I got the recipe from the McCormick recipe book I've been using lately.
                                                          

Recipe:
4 eggs
1/4 c milk
1 c diced ham
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 tortillas
1 tbsp butter
cheddar cheese


Directions:
Mix eggs, milk, ham, seasoned salt, and black pepper in a bowl. Melt butter in a skillet. Add egg mixture and allow to cook through. Once the egg mixture has firmed up, spread some cheddar cheese on a tortilla and place egg mixture on top of cheese. Add more  cheese to top and roll up the tortilla. It is that easy!


We had wheat toast and orange juice with this dinner...it was breakfast for dinner afterall. :o) And yes we used paper plates...already had enough dishes to in the sink!


Tonight I am working on two new projects...one has been started already :

A Tempetuous Tuesday

Tempetuous...

              definitely describes my Tuesday, in more ways than one.


To combat that...here's my afternoon/evening pictorially.

and tonight we will have Grilled Cheese and Soup (tomato for me ;o] )for dinner. It only seems appropriate given the weather and my lack of enthusiasm for making dinner. Plus it's what I planned to have anyway....

Maybe I'll get ambitious and do some more organizing...we'll see.

Chicken Lasagna short cut :o)

Chicken Lasagna Roll-ups…
Takes about 30 minutes to make, 45 minutes to bake…and makes 5 servings of 2 rolls each.
What you need:
10 lasagna noodles
1 container (15 oz) of ricotta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 jar (24 oz) marinara sauce
2 C rotisserie chicken
2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

What to do:
1. Preheat the oven 350 degrees. Boil the lasagna noodles for 8 minutes. Drain/rinse in cold water to stop them from cooking. Set aside.
2. In a bowl mix ricotta, egg, Italian seasoning, garlic, and parsley
3. Spread 1/2 C of the marinara in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Spread each noodle with some ricotta, chicken, and mozzarella cheese. Roll it up and place it seam down in the baking dish. Repeat 11 more times :-p. Spread leftover marinara sauce on top of roll-ups.

4. Cover with foil and bake for about 35 min. Take off the foil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 10 minutes more.

so delicious

Now…alterations: I used part skim ricotta just to keep the calories/fat down. I also used dried parsley because I didn’t have fresh. For the garlic, I just crushed a clove myself…cheaper than the jarred stuff. I also did not have any "leftover rotisserie chicken". This is one of those cook once, eat thrice ideas...but I just cooked chicken for this recipe because this is what I had planned for tonight. On that note, I also decided to boil the chicken this time rather than bake it or fry it...and WOW I will boil it if I ever need it for something like this again. This may sounds silly or inexperienced of me but boiling the chicken made it MUCH easier to shred it for the roll-ups.

I served it with a  salad…and MILK of course. I must have milk with meals like this. Yum!







Now after dinner...I will enjoy this:

and my book! :o)