Grilled Stuffed Peppers

I haven't made stuffed peppers in a while and I had some in the fridge that needed to be used.  Instead of going the traditional route, I thought I'd try them out on the grill.  BEST. IDEA. EVER.  Well maybe not ever, but best idea involving a green pepper in a long time, these were so good!

 

 

 

What You'll Need:

• 4 Large Green Peppers, cut in half and seeded
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 jar of diced tomatoes
• 1 boil-in-a-bag rice
• Italian Seasoning
• Mozzeralla Cheese

What You Do:

 

Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, tomatoes and a couple of dashes of italian seasoning.  Remove from heat. 

 

Cook rice according the package directions.

 

While the rice are is cooking, prepare the green peppers.  I wanted the peppers to be nice and charred on both the top and bottom so I took a short cut and roasted the tops right over the open flame on the stove top.  You can put them on the grill as well.

 

When the rice is done, add to the beef mixture.   Use a spoon to scoop into the green peppers.

 

Top each pepper with a slice of mozzeralla cheese.

 

Grill peppers over medium heat until the peppers have nice grill marks and the cheese is all gooey and melted. 

 

I served with a slice of garlic bread, a side salad would be nice as well.     

Pizza Stuffed Zucchini

Anyone else have zucchini overload in their garden?  We certainly do.  My favorite way to prepare it is with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and just toss on the grill for a few minutes.  But there are only so many times a girl can eat grilled zucchini.  So along came this creation.  I must admit, we were pretty pleased with it.

What You'll Need:

• 1 1/4 cups marinara sauce
• 1 large or 4 medium zucchini 
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 small onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 diced green pepper
•  1/2 cup diced mushroom
• 1 lb Hot Italian Sausage
• Mini Pepperoni
• Shredded mozzarella
• Grated Parmesan cheese

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and using a spoon, scoop out the center flesh.

Place 1/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 12" baking dish, and place zucchini halves cut side up.

Brown sausage over medium heat.  The last few minutes of browning add the onion, garlic, pepper and mushroom. Continue cooking until veggies are soft.

Using a spoon, fill each hollowed zucchini with sausage mixture. Top with a couple of tablespoons of sauce.

Add shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.

Finish off by adding pepperoni. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and zucchini is cooked through.  You want the zucchini to be cooked, but still crunchy.   

Buffalo Chicken in the Crock

What You'll Need:

• 4-5 Chicken Breasts
• 1 Package Dry Ranch Mix
• 3/4 - 1 Jar Buffalo Wing Sauce

What You Do:

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. 

I served this as an open-faced sandwich, topped with whatever fixings you like... tomato, lettuce, pickles, red onions... I went with just cheese for mine.  After a few bites, I decided that it needed something more, so I added pickles.  It added that extra crunch I was looking for.

The second time around, I thought it might be interesting to mix it up and serve on top of a baked potato.  I actually think I liked it better this way! 

Zucchini Rice Bake

I've been experimenting with zucchini dishes as of late.  Our zucchini plant that produced about 5 zucchinis earlier in the year, up and died on us.  But it made a miraculous recovery and is producing again!  So now I'm making zucchini bread and trying out all sorts of new things as well.  Here is one of the new concoctions. 

What You Need:

• 1 lb hamburger
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 bag of quick cooking rice
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 banana pepper, chopped (Any kind of pepper is fine, this is the only thing I had in the garden that day)
• 1 can Italian diced tomatoes
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.

Prepare rice according to package directions.

Brown beef.

Chop vegetables.

Combine beef, rice and vegetables in baking dish.  Pour tomoates in and give it a stir.  Season with salt and pepper.

Top with mozzeralla cheese adn bake for 30 minutes.

Gumbo

I had a hankering for gumbo the other day.  I'm not sure where it came from since I've never made it before, but while sitting at work it entered my head and I couldn't shake it.  So I gave it a go.  I'm not sure how this would compare to real Lousiana gumbo, but all-in-all it was pretty tasty.

  
What You'll Need:

• 8 tablespoon butter, divided
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can Rotel
• 4 cups chicken stock
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 6 tablespoons flour
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
• 1 pound cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Rice
• Optional - 1 cup celery, chopped.  I despise celery, but I know it's supposed to be in gumbo.  So if by chance you like the yucky stuff, then go right ahead and throw it in there with the green peppers and onion.  
• Also optional - 1 cup okra, chopped.  I really enjoy fried okra, but don't like it when it gets slimy.  I didn't have any on-hand so I didn't include it.  If i did, I may have, but that slime factor might have thwarted me as well.  Use at your own discretion. 

What You Do:

In a large pot melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat.  Saute pepper and onion until onion is translucent.  Add garlic for a minute.

Add chicken stock, cayenne pepper, Worcestershire, salt, pepper and Rotel.  Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer.

Brown sausage in a skillet.  Drain and add to pot.

Melt remainin butter in skillet, once melted add flour and whisk until roux is fully mixed.  Continue cooking 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly. Be careful not to burn! 

Add the roux to the pot and bring to a boil, again stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes. 

Cook rice while gumbo is simmering. 

Add the shrimp right before serving.

Serve over bed of rice.

Enchiladas

This recipe came from my Oklahoma transplant friend.  I only made a few edits to suit our liking.  Thanks Annie, it was delicious! 

What You Need: 

• 
  
  1 lb ground beef
• 
  
  2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes 
• 1 bag instant rice
• 1 can red enchilada sauce
• Salsa
• Colby Jack Shredded cheese 
• 10” flour tortillas
• 2 scallions, chopped
• Sliced jalapenos (optional)
• Beans (optional)

What You Do:

Prepare rice according to box instructions.

Chop onion and garlic. 

Brown hamburger and add onion and garlic.

Add rotel, 1/3 of the can of enchilada sauce, and a handful or two of cheese.  If you choose to add beans, now is the time.  I refrain.  Ick.

After cheese is melted, fill tortillas with meat mixture and top with rice.  Roll and lay into a 9x13” baking dish.

Cover top of enchiladas with cheese and top off with remainder of enchilada sauce. Spoon some salsa over top. Lay a few sliced jalapenos over the top of each roll.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.  Top with scallions and serve with sour cream and lettuce on the side.

Spicy Chicken Strips

What You'll Need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons Chipotle Tabasco sauce
• 1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

What You Do:

Preaheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Combine milk and Tabasco sauce in a bowl.  Add chicken and let sit for 30 minutes.

Combine bread crumbs and dry seasonings in a bowl.  Bread chicken and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. 

Bake chicken for 30-45 minutes, or until browned and crispy.

Italian Sausage Quesadillas

I've been thinking about making these for a while and finally got a chance to test them out earlier this week.  Verdict being, very good!  Next time I think I'll add some sliced fresh mushrooms as well. 

What You'll Need:

• Tortillas
• Extra-Virgin Olive OIl
• 2/3 cup Mozzarella Cheese
• Bunch Chopped Cilantro
• 1 lb Italian Sausage
• 2 Roasted Red Peppers, cut into strips
• Red Onion, cut into strips

What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place tortillas in a single layer on a well-oiled baking sheet.  Brush each round lightly with EVOO.  Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Squeeze italian sausages out of their casings and cook in pan over medium-high heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add red onion strips for the last 5 minutes. 

Place one tortilla on baking sheet, add cooked sausage and onions, red pepper and mozzarella cheese.  Top with another tortilla.  Bake for 10 minutes. 

Serve with marina sauce for dipping.

Grilled Pizza

As you know, the hubby and I got ourselves a new grill for our anniversary.  We've been addicted to it ever since.  We've probably cooked 90% of our meals on the grill since bringing the bad boy home.  It's not like we didn't have a grill before, we did.  And we liked cooking on it.  But this new one is gas and the old was charcoal.  And sometimes after getting home from a hard day's work, we just didn't have time to wait for the charcoal to get ready.  Now we don't have to wait and I love it.

We grilled homemade pizzas the other day and I don't think I've ever made a pizza more delicious.  I believe we will be doing it again, and very soon.  Father's Day is this weekend, wouldn't a family "build your own pizza" cookout be fun?!

What You'll Need: 

• Pizza crust, divided into small sections for individual servings
• Olive oil
• Sauce
• Cheese
• Pizza toppings (we used sausage, pepperoni, red onion, and canadian bacon this time around)

What You Do:

Preheat grill.

Shape the dough into rounds, either stretching it by hand or using a rolling pin.

When the grill is hot, have all of your toppings in an assembly line nearby.

Begin by coating one dough round with olive oil and placing it oil side down on the grill.  Drizzle the top with oil now.

After two to three minutes the crust should be set.  If not, give it another minute or so.  When the crust is set, remove it from the heat and transfer it to a plate, flip it over so the cooked side is up, and add the toppings.

Repeat the process with the rest of the dough rounds.

Grill the topped pizzas until the crust is set and the cheese is melted.

I Feel Like a Cheater

I love beef.  Seriously, I love it.  I don't think there is anything that can beat a nice juicy steak or even a perfectly cooked hamburger.  There just isn't.

I'm not just saying that because I grew up raising beef cattle, I'm saying it because it's the truth.  My mouth is salivating right now just thinking about it.

With that said, I've tarnished the family name.  I've made turkey burgers.... and liked them.  GASP!

Don't worry Dad, turkey will never replace beef in our household, but I think it may be a good recipe to add to the mix when we feel like eating something just a bit different.

Turkey Burgers With Slaw

What You'll Need

1 tablespoon Butter
1 small red onion, 1/2 chopped, 1/2 thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 lb ground turkey
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons pickle relish
2 cups shredded cabbage mix
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 rolls
4 slices of cheddar cheese

What You Do

Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add chopped onions, garlic and tomato paste, cook for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle in 1 teaspoon sugar and remove from heat.  Let cool in a bowl.

Add Worcestershire and hot sauce to tomato paste mixture.  Add chicken and then grill seasoning and combine well.

Make into four patties.

Heat 1 tablespoon EVOO in a nonstick skillet or grill pan.  Cook patties approximately 6 minutes on each side.

Combine 1 teaspoon sugar, lemon juice, remaining EVOO in a bowl.  Add relish, cabbage mix and sliced onions and season with salt and pepper.  Toss the slaw to coat and refrigerate.

Serve burgers on toasted buns with a slice of cheese and top with slaw.  I like to add a little bbq sauce on as well.

Shrimp & Sausage Pasta

What You'll Need

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 can diced tomatoes (I recommend the Italian seasoned kind)

1 can tomato sauce

4 green onions, chopped

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deviened

1 pound smoked sausage, sliced

1 pound spaghetti or linguini

Fresh basil, chopped

Red pepper flakes, to taste

Salt & pepper, to taste

Parmesan cheese, grated

What You Do

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute for a minute.  Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and green onions.  Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Simmer over low heat.

Fry up sausage and add to sauce. 

Cook pasta for 5-7 minutes, it should still be firm.

Add shrimp to pasta sauce for a minute or two.  Add spaghetti to pot.  Toss, and throw the entire mixture into a baking dish.  Cover and bake for 15 minutes.

Serve and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Sausage, Potato and Kale Gratin

I made this tasty soup over the weekend and had a bunch of kale leftover from it.  While I like adding a little kale into my lettuce mixture for a salad, we don't eat salads every day.  And kale stands up so well to cooking, so in order for it not to go to waste, I was forced to put my thinking cap on and figure out what to do with the rest of it. 

This is what I came up with.

And by George it was good!  See those crunchy pieces of cheese on the edge?  Ohhhh... those make my heart sing.

What You'll Need:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups kale
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 potatoes, sliced, seperate into three piles
• 3 cups grated colby jack cheese, seperate into three piles
• 1/2 pound sausage
• 2/3 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper

What You Do:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Brown sausage over medium heat. 

While sausage is cooking, chop up the potatoes, kale and garlic and grate the cheese.

When sausage is done, drain off grease.  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter over low heat.  Add the kale and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the garlic and a dash of salt and pepper.  Cook for another 2 minutes and remove from heat.

Grease the bottom of a baking dish with butter or Pam.  Layer one-third of the potatoes in the dish.  Top with a third of the cheese and 1/2 the sausage. 

Spread ALL the kale over the sausage. 

Add another pile of the potatoes, cheese and the remaining sausage. 

Add the last pile of potatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with the remaining cheese.

Dot the top with 1 tablespoon butter and pour the chicken broth over it all.

Cover and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove cover and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Now dig in!

Loaded Baked Potato Pizza

I forgot to take a picture until after everyone had dug in.  This was all that was left, obviously it was a hit!

What You'll Need:

•1 package Pizza Dough (if you want to make your own, you go right ahead, I didn't have time)
•Olive Oil
•½ cup Sour Cream
•2 whole Potatoes, chopped
•4 strips Bacon, crumbled
•2 stalks Scallions, chopped
•Cheddar Cheese
•Salt and Pepper

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Chop potatos and cook in microwave for 5-7 minutes or until tender.

Heat frying pan and fry bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside until cool. Crumble into small pieces. Set aside.

Roll out pizza dough into onto pan.  Brush with olive oil. Cook for 3 minutes.

Top pizza dough with sour cream, salt & pepper, cheddar cheese, cubed potatoes, bacon, and scallions. Top entire pizza with additional cheese.

Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese has completely melted.

*I think I will try this in the summer on the grill.  If you give it a shot before I do, let me know how it turns out!

Drowned Chicken Roll Ups

A co-worker of mine has been making all sorts of stuff with crescent rolls recently and I thought I'd jump on the band wagon.  This wasn't my favorite meal of all time, but the Hubby gave it a B, said it was man-pleasing food.  Of course what isn't man-pleasing when it's smothered in gravy?

What You'll Need
Approx. 2 cups of Chopped Cooked Chicken
1/2 block of Cream Cheese
1/2 cup of Sour Cream
4 tablespoons of Butter, plus 2 more for coating or an egg
1/2 Chopped Onion
1/4 Chopped Green Pepper
2 cans Crescent Rolls
2/3 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
Gravy (I prefer white, but you may use whatever you wish)

What You Do
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cook chicken however you prefer - grill, bake, etc.
Combine cream cheese, sour cream, butter, onions and green peppers until smooth.
Add cooked chicken.
Seperate crescent rolls.  I did individual rolls as well as leaving 2 triangles together to make more of a pouch than a roll.  Either is fine.
Melt the remaining butter (or beat egg).
Place bread crumbs in a seperate bowl.
Roll the chicken pouches in the butter and then in the crumbs.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, prepare gravy.
Smother the chicken roll ups with gravy when served.

*For this batch I threw the raw onions and peppers in with the cream cheese mixture.  They were still slightly crunchy when done baking.  If you don't like the crunch, then saute first.  I will saute first next time I make it.

Smothered Ranch Chicken and Taters

I'm hungry. 

I had a an apple for breakfast and it just didn't satisfy me for long.  So I'm waiting for the clock to keep turning so I can go meet a wonderful friend for lunch.  Josh doesn't ever read my blog, actually I doubt he even knows that I have one.  So I can say all sorts of terrible things about him and he'd never even know, but I won't. 

This time.

Instead, since I'm so hungry I'll share a recipe that I made not long ago.  It wasn't the prettiest food on the plate, but my oh my it was yummy.  Classic feel good comfort food.  I called it Smothered Ranch Chicken and Taters, you can call it whatever you wish.

You'll need:

4 chicken breasts
6 tablespoons spicy ranch dressing
1 medium onion
1 small can of mushrooms
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons butter
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Splash of beer
4 large potatoes
4 slices of bacon
½ a bag of Monterey jack cheese
Salt, pepper and seasoning salt
EVOO

It's really quite easy to make, a little time consuming, but easy.  Just follow these steps:

Marinate chicken in dressing for a few hours, the longer the better.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Sauté chopped onion, garlic and mushrooms in butter over low heat. Add a few dashes of Worcestershire and seasoning salt and a splash or two of beer.
While mushrooms are sautéing, chop potatoes. Place in dish and microwave for 4-5 minutes.
Pour a little EVOO over potatoes, salt and pepper and toss to coat.
Sauté chicken on each side for 1 to 2 minutes, do not cook through, just enough to brown up.
Place the chicken on top of the potatoes.
Drizzle spicy ranch dressing on top of chicken and potatoes.
Smother chicken with mushroom topping.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for another 20 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, fry up the bacon.
Add bacon and bake for another 5 minutes.

**I would normally use fresh mushrooms but didn’t have any on hand; canned work just fine, but I would recommend fresh.

**Chopped scallions would be a good garnish as well, but I didn’t have any. Try it! 

And now I'm even hungrier than I was before I wrote this.

Experimentation

I had a friend come over the other night to do me a huge favor, I told her I’d make her supper for helping me out. One problem… I haven’t been grocery shopping and the pickings in the kitchen were slim.

Since she’s such a great friend I thought I’d make her my guinea pig and just throw some stuff together. She’s always honest and I don’t have to worry about her sugar coating it and telling me it tastes good when it really has the flavor of an old shoe.

So what I came up with was Pizza Burgers!

Ingredients:
1 pound of hamburger
1 pound of Italian sausage
¼ onion, chopped
¼ green pepper, chopped
7-8 tablespoons pizza sauce
Grated Parmesan cheese
Sliced Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Chop up onion and green pepper, mix with hamburger and Italian sausage. I also threw in a few shakes of seasoning salt. Make 7 – 8 patties. Cook in frying pan until almost done. Spoon approximately a tablespoon of pizza sauce on top of each patty. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top and then add the slices of mozzarella. Let cheese melt and serve on a bun.

Verdict was…. Good!

I didn’t take any pictures of the food, so instead here’s a picture of Jenny and myself. Thanks for being my taste tester!