Stuffed Bell Peppers

New recipe! I've tried this twice now.

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Rice, Spinach, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

From: One-Dish Vegetarian Meals by Robin Robertson
"The rich flavor of these stuffed peppers is enhanced by the smoky sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes. The rice mixture may also be used to stuff zucchini or other vegetables or enjoyed on its own."

4 large green, red, or yellow bell peppers
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large bunch spinach, washed, trimmed, and coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 to 4 cups cooked white or brown long-grain rice
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 º F. Slice off the tops of the peppers and remove the seeds and membranes. Plunge the peppers into a pot of boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly softened. Remove the peppers from the water and set aside, cut side down, to drain. Chop the tomatoes and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach, garlic, and tomatoes, and cook until the spinach is wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Fill the peppers with the rice mixture and place upright in a baking dish. Add a few tablespoons of water to the baking dish, cover, and bake until the peppers are tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

Once you have the gist of recipe, you really don't have to follow it completely. The first time I made this, the rice was a little too moist, so I added 2 TBSPs of pine nuts and 1/4 cup chopped green onion. The second time, the rice was a little dry, so I added some extra olive oil. The second time I didn't have parsley, but added about 2 tsp of dried herbs (oregano, thyme, etc). Both times I made it, I brushed the outside of the pepper with a wee bit of olive oil. The first time I made it, I just yellow peppers. The second time I used yellow, red, and green. It was good with all kinds.

Delicious both times! The extras kept well for lunch the next day too.

Big Dish Sweet Potatoes

All teenagers go through their angry teen moments. One of my most vivid memories of me be a whiny, pain-in-the-rump tween/teen was on Thanksgiving. It was the coldest Thanksgiving of my life, and not just because of the wind, freezing rain, and sleet. The real reason: my grandmother didn't make her sweet potatoes. I looked forward to them all year, and no sweet potatoes. I remember walking home early (they only lived just down the street) with the wet sleet stinging my bratty cheeks.

About 8 years later, my grandmother passed away and someone else had to take over sweet potatoes. I thought the only way I could secure that sweet potatoes would be on the table is if I made them. So, for the past 8 or so years, I've been in charge of the sweet potatoes. I did change up my grandmother's recipe slightly. Here's hers:

Big Dish Sweet Potatoes

3 Cans Sweet Potatoes
1 stick butter
1 cup evaporated milk
6 TBSP brown sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. clove
3 cups marshmallows

Combine all ingredients until blended. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Put marshmallows on top, and bake for 5 minutes.

My Sweet Potatoes

4 large sweet potatoes
3/4 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup evaporated milk
5 TBSP brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 cups marshmallows

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes on rack for 45-60 minutes (I place a cookie sheet on the rack underneath the rack with the potatoes to catch drippings. I know the potatoes are done when they start to bubble out a little bit). Remove potatoes and allow to cool until able to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except marshmallows until blended. Place in a baking dish and cook covered for 25 minutes. Remove lid and add marshmallows. Bake for 5 minutes or until marshmallows poof up and start to brown slightly.

This year I prepared everything the night before and refrigerate it, made it to my mom's house and stuck them in the oven 30 minutes before dinner time. You can't tell the difference at all. I'd really like to try heavy cream with them instead of the evaporated milk.

Sorry no pictures, but if means anything to you, Brian always said he hated sweet potatoes until he had mine.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.

White Trashgiving Pictures

I hope Fran doesn't mind me posting pics from White Trashgiving, because here they are.

It should start at my tater tot casserole, and if you hit back you'll see the delicious fried stuffing balls!

White Trashgiving

This weekend, Brian and I attended the 2nd annual White Trashgiving. The perfect food for a White Trashgiving to me would be Tuna Wiggle (what my mom calls Tuna Noodle Casserole). However, the thought of that disturbs Brian, so last year I asked co-workers what type of food I could take, and one came through with, "Tater Tot Casserole." I make this one: Tater Tot Casserole via Cooks.com (there are quite a few different varieties via Cooks.com).

I followed the recipe, only adding a little more cheese. It is unbelievably easy to make. I do have to admit, it's very good! Perfect if you have to cook for picky kids.

Other food on the table this year were turkey quiche (which I didn't think was so W.T.), deviled eggs (can never go wrong with those!), fried Stove-top Stuffing balls (those were awesome!), Ritz crackers and squirt cheese in a can, turkey cornbread, and Brian made Chili dip again (which is 1 package cream cheese mixed with 1 can of chili and served with Fritos - W.T. and delicious!). White Chocolate Smores were for dessert, as well as chocolate cupcakes and snowballs.

Entertainment for the evening involved the repeated playing of "Dueling Banjos" from Deliverance on the record player, a game of Texas Hold 'Em, and frying random things in the deep fryer (a chocolate cupcake, a boiled egg, and bacon were attempted).

It was a lot of fun, especially with the honored guest being Mr. Jim Beam!

Bisquick Cinnamon Rolls

You'd think I was an old lady as much as I use Bisquick. Here's another one! I used the Glazed Cinnamon Roll recipe from Bisquick's website, but I wanted a cream cheese icing rather than the simple powdered sugar glaze. I used the glaze from this Cinnamon Roll recipe via Epicurious, but added cinnamon to it.

Bisquick Cinnamon Rolls

For the Rolls:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup raisins

For the Cream Cheese Glaze:
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon (depending on cinnamony you like it)

Heat oven to 375°F. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan. In small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon; set aside.

In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, 2/3 cup milk and 2 tablespoons sugar until dough forms. If dough is too sticky, gradually mix in enough Bisquick mix (up to 1/4 cup) to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto surface well dusted with Bisquick mix; gently roll dough in Bisquick mix to coat. Shape into ball; knead 10 times.

Roll dough into 15x9-inch rectangle; spread with butter. Sprinkle evenly with sugar mixture and raisins. Roll up tightly, beginning at 15-inch side. Seal well by pinching edge of dough into roll. Cut into 1 1/4-inch slices; place cut sides down in pan.

Bake 23 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan.

To make the glaze, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Spread glaze over warm rolls.

They were pretty good, and Brian seemed to like them. The only thing about them is the obvious: they are the consistency of a Bisquick biscuit. They are dense and crumbly. To get the Flaky layered type of roll, I'd obviously have to spend a little more time making a yeast roll dough. I definitely want to try the recipe from Epicurious!

Also, we didn't eat them all, but they froze nicely, as did the glaze. Hurray again for Bisquick!!

Cherry Almond Kugel

About a year ago, my book club I lead at the library read Golden Country by Jennifer Gilmore. In the book, some of the characters meet in Upstate New York for brunch consisting of bagels, lox, and kugel topped with cornflakes. The book, albeit fictional, said that surely it was the best kugel in America. One of my book club ladies wanted to make kugel for the group, but I couldn't let her for food handler laws, blah blah blah. I was upset. I wanted some kugel, and I really wished I could have let her bring it. However, she did bring her recipe in and gave me a copy.

A couple weeks ago, Brian and I were invited to a most awesome bagels and lox brunch. I immediately thought of Golden Country, and so I finally had a reason to try the kugel. I stupidly left my book club lady's recipe at work, so I adapted this Easiest Noodle Kugel recipe.

Cherry Almond Kugel
8 ounces wide egg noodles (this is more than 1 cup, you'll need a scale)
1 cup dried cherries
5 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter,
melted, cooled
2/3 cup sugar
4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups cornflakes, coarsely crushed
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
dash cinnamon and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread uncooked noodles over bottom of prepared dish and sprinkle with cherries. Whisk eggs, sour cream, butter, sugar, almond extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg in large bowl until smooth. Whisk in milk and pour mixture over noodles. Let kugel stand 5 minutes.
Mix cornflakes, almond meal, brown sugar, dash cinnamon and nutmeg in bowl;
sprinkle evenly over kugel.
Bake kugel until set in center, about 1 hour.

Here's the topping:

Shot of the side of the pan (it was blurry):

It makes A LOT!!!

New Orleans!

Brian and I went to New Orleans and had as much cliche food as possible. For the short time we were there, we did good!

First, we ate at the Acme Oyster House. I loved this sign; although, we actually had a waitress available instantly.

Crab and Corn Bisque.... Yum!!!

I was thinking as I was typing this, what's the difference between bisque and chowder? Apparently, bisque is pureed and chowder is chunky.

My "Peacemaker" Po-boy - half fried shrimp, half fried oysters.

Brian's jambalaya (sideways - he said he wished it had shrimp in it).

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (which just looks a lot like the bisque under the red glow of the waitress sign).

In the morning, we went to Cafe du Monde.

You have no choice but to get beignets. This is one of those places where you do one thing and you do it right. You probably can't tell from this picture, but basically, this is the tray assembly line. There's the coffee dispenser, the cafe au lait dispenser, the water and orange juice dispenser, and the place where the cook tosses plates of beignets. The waitresses go in the left side with a tray, and go through it getting the order, and then take the tray to the table. I was fascinated by the constant flow of waitresses going through the line and going through the cycle over and over again.

I didn't get a shot of it, but I thought it was hilarious that there was powdered sugar all over floor. This mug was also cute.



We also went to Pat O'Brien's for a Hurricane, I just didn't get a shot of that. We had a good time eating, and definitely want to go back and eat more!

She cooks cheap soup mix to conquer allergies/cold

My week vacation has been plagued with allergies or a cold. Not sure which. I decided to have some chicken noodle soup and crackers for lunch to break up whatever is blocking up the space between my nose and my throat.

Chicken you say? Well, I never say I'm really a vegetarian (look at how much fish I eat!), and there's not really any chicken in it. In fact, It's not even called chicken noodle soup.

I love Target. Love love love it. If you looked in my pantry, you'd see tons of "Market Pantry" and "Archer Farms" labels in there. I'm not one for buying off brands when it comes to food, but Target brands truly are high quality/low price. Except! for their "Noodle Soup Mix."

I bought it instead of the Campbell's Noodle Soup Mix. It was about a buck cheaper. The broth was dead on. Exactly the same. However, where are the noodles?

I found them after pouring half of the broth down the drain. It's just little bits and pieces of noodles, not even full noodles.

My advice on this one, if you are at Target and you are choosing between crappy soup mix versus knock-off crappy soup mix, go for just the crappy soup mix because you'll at least have some noodles.

However, I did float a lot of Market Pantry Saltine crackers in the soup, and they are better than Nabisco's or Zesta's. Buttery, flaky, and the perfect amount of salt. The others sometimes taste like a communion cracker - blech!

In summary:

Market Pantry Noodle Soup Mix: Skip It
Market Pantry Saltine Crackers: Buy Em!

Halloween Food!

October 25th was our "Witch Burning and BBQ" or Ghoulish Grillout - which ever you prefer.

Where the food was located:

The food table:

Brian's iced sugar cookies (My favorite is the Frankenstein!):

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coffins:

Brian's Graveyard Cake with sugar cookie tombstones:
Brian also made Rotel Dip, Chili Dip, and Grilled Brauts. I made Mac and Cheese with halloween pasta. We also mixed up some Hallowtinis and Brian made Sangria.

Thanks to everyone that showed up to eat our food!