Today was mostly spent working in the kitchen. Yesterday I did all of my grocery shopping, so I spent my afternoon chopping veggies and prepping meals for the week...well, mostly for tonight and tomorrows dinner.
Dan and I are taking an impromptu afternoon trip to Niagara Falls tomorrow. I have never been and since we live so close it seems silly not to check it out. It's only about 90 miles away. Plus, the housekeeper is here tomorrow afternoon so since Dan has to take a few hours off work so we can get out of her way, a day trip seems fun. I am very excited to see the Falls! I will post about it on Friday.
Tonight I made a super easy dinner that is chock full of veggies and can be changed up to fit the ingredients on hand or mood.
For the longest time I thought I hated bell peppers. I never ate them and often asked for them to be held on any dish ordered out. In a crazy moment a few weeks ago I taste-tested a raw red pepper and immediately was hooked. Tonight I used my new found love of peppers and made a dinner out of it: stuffed peppers.
I made mine with spice italian turkey sausage, peppers, onions, and brown rice. You can switch it up to be mexican with corn, ground beef, etc. Here is the recipe I used for tonight. Enjoy!
Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan from Kalyn's Kitchen.
(Makes 4 large stuffed green peppers, recipe created by Kalyn when her market had a great sale on peppers!)
1 C long-grain brown rice (I used Uncle Ben's Brown Rice, but any long-grain rice will work.)
4 large green bell peppers, bottom trimmed, cap end cut off and diced, and seeds removed
1 large onion, diced
2 tsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil
2 links turkey Sweet Italian Sausage (or other sausage of your choice. Use diced mushrooms instead of sausage for vegetarian version.)
1/2 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. dried Greek or Turkish oregano
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Cook rice according to package directions, or using a rice cooker. (Rice can be cooked ahead and used in this recipe later.)
Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds. Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil. (A dish that's close in size to the peppers will work best.)
Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet, then saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren't browned. Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 tsp. more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it's lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner.
Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors. Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.
Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. (A few years ago I stopped pre-cooking the peppers before stuffing, and now I prefer peppers that are stuffed raw.) If you have any extra filling, you can put it in a small ramekin and bake along with the peppers. Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.
Dan and I are taking an impromptu afternoon trip to Niagara Falls tomorrow. I have never been and since we live so close it seems silly not to check it out. It's only about 90 miles away. Plus, the housekeeper is here tomorrow afternoon so since Dan has to take a few hours off work so we can get out of her way, a day trip seems fun. I am very excited to see the Falls! I will post about it on Friday.
Tonight I made a super easy dinner that is chock full of veggies and can be changed up to fit the ingredients on hand or mood.
For the longest time I thought I hated bell peppers. I never ate them and often asked for them to be held on any dish ordered out. In a crazy moment a few weeks ago I taste-tested a raw red pepper and immediately was hooked. Tonight I used my new found love of peppers and made a dinner out of it: stuffed peppers.
I made mine with spice italian turkey sausage, peppers, onions, and brown rice. You can switch it up to be mexican with corn, ground beef, etc. Here is the recipe I used for tonight. Enjoy!
Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan from Kalyn's Kitchen.
(Makes 4 large stuffed green peppers, recipe created by Kalyn when her market had a great sale on peppers!)
1 C long-grain brown rice (I used Uncle Ben's Brown Rice, but any long-grain rice will work.)
4 large green bell peppers, bottom trimmed, cap end cut off and diced, and seeds removed
1 large onion, diced
2 tsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil
2 links turkey Sweet Italian Sausage (or other sausage of your choice. Use diced mushrooms instead of sausage for vegetarian version.)
1/2 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. dried Greek or Turkish oregano
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Cook rice according to package directions, or using a rice cooker. (Rice can be cooked ahead and used in this recipe later.)
Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds. Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil. (A dish that's close in size to the peppers will work best.)
Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet, then saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren't browned. Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 tsp. more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it's lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner.
Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors. Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.
Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. (A few years ago I stopped pre-cooking the peppers before stuffing, and now I prefer peppers that are stuffed raw.) If you have any extra filling, you can put it in a small ramekin and bake along with the peppers. Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.
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