recipes i want to try

today began with visions of caramelized mushrooms and herbed bread, and then i took a nice long look around my clean apartment and not so clean kitchen ( even though it was sparkling yesteray morning, funny how that happens) and decied my will was not strong enough to wade through the ocean of dishes sure to await me.

so, i just did some food fantasizing instead.

Caramelized Chicken and Mushrooms


The NY Times Chocolate chip cookies (via How Sweet Eats)

Naan Bread (you can make it! whoohoo!)

Red Lobster Biscuits (the only reason worth going, and literally the majority of my meal, with a size of mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers)

tonight's easy peasy no clean up meal is a delicious stuffed pepper pulled from my freezer, and some goldeny crisp tater tots.



the Stuffed Peppers are delicious and following in my momma's (and granny's) footsteps, I make a big batch and freeze them so I can whip them out when I don't feel like making a mess or putting any effort into making dinner.

this makes a heck of a lot of stuffing...like at least a pound, so you can just buy as many peppers as you want to have  on hand, and freeze the remaining stuffing to make new peppers later on.

you will need:

    1-1 1/2 lbs ground beef
    1 roll of Jimmy Dean hot ground sausage (it isn't actually spicy, has nice flavor)
    3 medium yellow onions, chopped
    2 large ribs celery, chopped
    1/2-3/4 green bell pepper, chopped (you can save the other half for stuffing!)
    2 or 3 eggs, beaten (i don't remember what i used, so start with 2 and add the other if it's too dry)
    1 bag Pepperridge Farm herbed stuffing mix
    1 bay leaf, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper (i'd start with 1/2-1 tsp each, taste as you go!)
    dash of Worcestershire sauce
    extra bell peppers for stuffing (however many you want)

take the extra peppers and slice in half, or remove the tops (depending on how you want to stuff them) and clean out the seeds and other junk.

simmer peppers in water for about 3 minutes--just to soften them some, you don't want them going limp before stuffing (because they will be cooked more later)  drain on paper towels and set aside.

brown the sausage and ground beef with seasonings in a large skillet, then add in onions, celery and peppers. cook for a few minutes, until tender, then drain out fat in a paper towel lined colander. (remove bay leaf)

beat the eggs and add to the dry stuffing mix; once combined stir into meat mixture.

at this point you can either freeze all the stuffing mixture for later use (in small portions so you can stuff a few peppers at a time) or stuff the peppers you simmered earlier, place on a cookie sheet in the freezer for several hours, then place all in a freezer ziplock bag.

once you are ready to enjoy these babies (make sure they're thawed), top with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs and a pat of butter, bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

the weird strawberry i found!