Stuffed Bell Peppers

These bell peppers are so tasty and quite simple to throw together as well. It's one of our go-to meals, and one pepper can easily feed two kids. The leftovers are great as is or rolled up in a flour tortilla with a little salsa and sour cream.



Stuffed Bell Peppers

6 large bell peppers (any color)
1 lb. ground meat (beef, turkey, or whatever you like)
1/2 small onion, diced
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
garlic salt
oregano
basil
parsley
2-3 C. cooked rice
mozzarella cheese

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Cut off tops of bell peppers, straight across. Trim around the stem and dice remaining usable parts from the lid. Discard stem and seeds. Place whole peppers in an oven-safe dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes. Set aside.

Brown ground meat in a pan. Season with garlic salt, oregano, basil, and parsley about halfway through cooking. Add onions and diced bell peppers. Cook til soft--shouldn't take long. Add tomato sauce and rice. Stir to combine, then heat through.

Fill whole bell peppers with this mixture until full to the brim, then place in a sprayed baking dish. Top generously with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the cheese is done to your liking. (We like it crispy on the edges and lightly browned on top.)

Beef Veggie Stew [AFM]

We received a package of four "ribeye steaks" from Angel Food Ministries with our June order. I finally got two of them defrosted and tried to pan-sear them for a beef salad. Unfortunately, I found them very...flimsy. They also seemed a little watery and had a ring of tough tissue around the edges. (Is that a bit too much information?)

I realized that these things couldn't be used in the traditional way I would cook steak. Not wanting to make them go to waste, I decided to go the soup route--or rather the stew route.



Beef Veggie Stew
4 x 6 oz. Ribeye Steaks (cubed)
4 potatoes (medium-sized; cubed with fat trimmed)
diced veggies (celery, carrots, onions)
frozen, mixed veggies
brown gravy mix (dry)
cracked pepper
water

Place diced potatoes in the bottom of a crock pot. Sprinkle with gravy mix. Add veggies. Sprinkle more gravy mix. Add cubed meat. Sprinkle with pepper and gravy mix. (Yes, I have a brown gravy mix shaker.)

Fill pot with water to nearly the top of the pile of ingredients.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours, stirring every couple hours if you can. Serve over rice if you want a carb overload, or just serve with crackers.

By the way, a bag of rice also came with our Angel Food order. Yay!

Beth's Taco Salad

Mom and I are totally full from all our snacking today, so I'm just making dinner for Heath tonight. I've got this great recipe from my friend Beth who used to live in Colorado. She made this dish for me before small group one night.

1 lb. ground beef
1 can kidney beans
2/3 c. Catalina dressing
1/4 c. water
1-1/3 Tbsp. chili powder

Brown the meat and onions. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer 15 minutes, stirring. Some yummy additions to put in before simmering: chopped bell peppers, corn.

Combine with 4 c. shredded lettuce (or salad mix - whatever you have), 1/2 c. scallions (optional - I've never added these), and a generous 2 c. shredded cheddar cheese. You can also top with tomatoes, avacados, or whatever you'd like.

Toss and add more cheese on top. Serve with tortilla chips or Fritos. (I recommend Fritos!)

Chicken Recipe & Meatballs with Peas

Here are a couple recipes I just received from my old friend Erica. ("Old" as in, we've known each other since 6th grade - she's not that old!) - Dianna

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ERICA WROTE: Making me hungry just reading those recipes. So I thought I'd submit a couple of my families favorites. The first one really has no name- my grandma cooks her chicken like this, and I always find it foolproof to make- takes 20- 30 min. as long as you have chicken defrosted.

GRANDMA'S NAMELESS CHICKEN
Ingredients:
3-4 Chicken Breasts (Bone in or out - if in, cooking time takes little longer)
2 T. Olive oil
1 T. Butter
1 chicken bouillon cube
1-2 fresh tomatoes diced, or 1 can diced
2 T. garlic - less if you prefer
parsley
basil
pinch of rosemary
salt and pepper
3/4 c water
1/4 c water

* Heat butter and olive oil over med. heat until warm - add garlic. (make sure you use a skillet with a 2" rim)
* Rinse and dry chicken, add salt and pepper to taste (remember bouillon is salty), then add to olive-oil/butter - remember to keep the heat on low-med. You don't want to have it completely browned or it won't suck up the juices
* Add 3/4 c water and bouillon cube
* Add tomatoes, garlic, parsley, basil, and rosemary
* Let it simmer 15-20 min. turning chicken occasionally.
* When the water has been almost entirely sucked into chicken, add the last 1/4 c. and let simmer 5 more minutes. You now have gravy for whatever else you serve with it.

I serve this with just about everything. Buttered noodles, leftover spaghetti, rice, biscuits, salad, and another of my families favorites, green beans cooked on a skillet. (2 T butter, melted in skillet over med. heat, add green beans, stir
often until cooked - watch though, they go from cooked to burnt fast!)

And because I know you are such a huge fan of peas here is another family favorite, handed down from my great-grandmother:

MEATBALLS & PEAS
1 Pd. gd. beef
1 can/bottle (or if you prefer otherwise) of mushroom gravy
ketchup
mustard
seasoned salt
bread crumbs
olive oil
1 bag of frozen peas(or again-if preferred fresh)

* Heat olive oil in large skillet over low-med. heat
* Take 1 pd. of ground beef, and in a bowl, add (you ready for this?) a squirt of ketchup, a squirt of mustard, about 1 tsp of seasoned salt, about 5T. of mushroom gravy, and enough bread crumbs to make the meatballs hold together.
* Scoop up meat and make into about 1-2" meatballs.
* Put in skillet and cook them, turning with a spoon often - try not to let them fall apart.
* Add the bag of peas, and the remainder of the mushroom gravy and about 1/4 c water (little less if peas are frozen)
* Cover and simmer until peas are cooked.

You can serve with noodles, but I prefer just a slice of buttered bread to soak up all the leftover gravy! My family can't get enough of their meatballs and peas!!!!!

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Thanks for the recipes, Erica! They both sound wonderful! I'm always looking for ways to use my Rosemary. I guess I'm not sure which dishes it should go in. I'll let you know how they turn out. :o)

Tortilla Pizzas & How to Make Faux Sausage

Thanks for your comment, Tricia! Here's an idea for your dilemma of needing a quick dinner for teenagers.

Tortilla Pizzas
Take 6-8 flour tortillas and place them on the oven rack at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Pull them out and place on cookie sheets. Spray the outer edges with cooking spray to get that extra crispness you need when you pick up the pieces later.

Spread jarred spaghetti sauce on the tortillas.

Top with whatever you have around for toppings - minced mushrooms, diced green bell peppers, tomatoes, olives (not a personal fave, but my husband likes them), onions, etc. If you happen to have pepperoni around of have a moment to brown some ground beef*, all the better! (See below for a trick to making regular ground beef taste like sausage.)

Top generously with shredded mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is slightly browned and melty.

Cut into wedges as you would a pizza and serve. Deee-licious!

Now granted, if you have teenage boys, it may take 3 or 4 of these mini pizzas each to satisfy the hunger. But they're so easy to make they could probably do it themselves. Hey, they could make you dinner!

I've often used this recipe for a quick snack when we have friends over. We've always got tortillas and most of the time I can get away with just putting the sauce and cheese on it. Heath used to be an avid video game player along with several of his friends. It was great to put these little darlings out on the table for the guys to munch while they played.

Oh and don't forget the power of the Crock Pot! If you need dinner in a hurry, there's nothing like coming home and just having to dish it up!

* Making Ground Beef taste like sausage:
It's so easy, you've probably already thought of it! Just begin browning the meat. Add garlic salt, garlic pepper, and "Italian seasonings" (or oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, minced garlic, and crushed red pepper - if you don't have all these, just use the ones that you have - though oregano and basil are key). Brown until all the oil has been mopped up by the cooking meat and it's very dark. I made this once when my mom was in town and she looked at it saying, "I thought you didn't have any sausage!"