Stuffed Bell Peppers

I was never a fan of bell peppers.  Something about the unique taste just never appealed to me until Jason's mom (my mother-in-law) made this recipe.  I still don't eat red or yellow bell peppers, but I really enjoy green ones now, all because of this delicious and filling recipe.

I have to add that I've tried a couple of other stuffed peppers (that other people made) and they didn't taste nearly as good as these :).  So... on to the recipe.  It's fairly simple, but you'll see that there are quite a few steps and it is time consuming.  So make sure that you plan ahead to make these on a night that you have plenty of time.

Here are the ingredients... I'll explain what to do with them as I go along :).

6 peppers

1 to 1.5 lbs ground beef

2 Tablespoons onion (yuck, I either use onion powder or minced onion)

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

2-3 cups cooked rice

2- 15oz cans tomato sauce

1-2 cups shredded cheese

First, you need to cut the tops off of the peppers and remove the insides.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.  Boil the peppers for 5 minutes and set aside in a baking dish.

Make enough rice to have 2-3 cups cooked.  Brown the ground beef.

Once the rice and beef are cooked, I combine them in the large pot that was used to boil the peppers.  Add one can of tomato sauce and the seasonings & stir together.  Taste the mixture to make sure it is seasoned to your liking and add more if needed.

Stuff the peppers (Jason likes them overstuffed) and place back in the baking dish.

Pour the other can of tomato sauce over the peppers.

Cover with foil and bake at 350* for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and cover peppers with cheese.  Cook for another 15 minutes.

Enjoy!  One pepper is usually more than enough for a meal for me and Jason usually eats two... then we have enough left for lunch the next day :).

Buttermilk Raspberry Cake

Growing up, my mom had a large raspberry "patch" (as well as strawberries and rhubarb) behind our house.  Every summer, we would have to go out each day to pick a bowl-ful of fresh raspberries.  Whenever she sent me out, she was lucky I brought any inside, because I loved to just eat them as I picked!  Anyway... anytime I come across a recipe that involves raspberries, strawberries, or rhubarb, I jump at the chance to make it because I really really really love the taste of them!

This cake isn't like a "birthday" cake or anything like that.  It's more like a breakfast/coffee cake and it's oh so delicious!!!

Start out by mixing the following ingredients together:
1-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil (vegetable or light olive oil are what I usually use)
1 egg

After mixing the above together well, add and mix the following:
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla

Add the following dry ingredients to the above "concoction" and mix together:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp salt

Pour the batter into a 9x13" cake pan.  Spoon 2 cups of raspberries on top (you can also use strawberries, blackberries, boysenberries, etc.).  Sometimes I put the berries on whole, other times I like to mash them up and put them on like that, which is what I did this time.

In a separate small bowl, mix the following together:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Sprinkle this on the top of the cake and bake it at 350* for 40-45 minutes.  The cake will probably look a little odd when it's done cooking, because the berries usually move away from the edge of the dish.  But don't worry!!!  It will still taste super delicious :).  This is one of my favorite dishes to make for brunches & breakfasts :).

Good luck and let me know if you try this!

Kitchenaid Stand Mixer!

Eeeeeeee, I'm so excited!!! My (3rd) wedding anniversary was September 2nd and my husband bought me a KitchenAid food processor (which is what I asked for, really!). He said it was a smaller model than he wanted to buy, though, and that he was originally going to buy me a stand mixer. He told me that I should take the processor back to Target and exchange it for whichever appliance I wanted more, so after a few days of thinking, I returned it and came home with this baby:

I'm so excited to start using it! I'll have to bake something just so I can use it :).  I'm even more excited because I was able to get a special "Cook for the Cure" edition, which means a $40 donation will be made to the Susan G Komen (breast cancer research) foundation from my purchase.  I got it on sale because it was on closeout, but I think it's really cool... it has a pretty pink stripe on it :D.

Anyway, I just had to share this with you and thank my amazing husband for this great gift.  I originally had this on our wedding registry and since then it's been on every birthday and Christmas list for the past 3 years :P.  Having this will make baking so much easier, especially when Thanksgiving and Christmas come around, because I always find myself trying to make about 10 different things at the same time :).

What's your favorite appliance or tool to use when baking?  Do you have a favorite brand?  I've been really pleased with the quality of KitchenAid products so far :).  I hope this lives up to my expectations!

Mom's Sugar Cookies!

I have made these quite a few times this year for church events and other get-togethers and they're always a huge hit :). They take some time and work, but they're worth it!!!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter - softened
1/2 cup shortening (I didn't say they were healthy)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1-1/4 tsp. lemon extract (the secret ingredient!)
5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking POWDER (not soda!!!)
2 tsp. salt

This makes a lot of cookies so cut it in half if you'd like :).

Blend butter & shortening, sugar, eggs, and lemon extract. Stir in flour, baking powder, & salt. Cover & chill for at least 1 hour.



Roll out on a flour-covered surface (I use my kitchen countertop), and use cookie cutters or a round cup to cut into shapes.



Bake in the oven at 350* for about 9-11 minutes or until they're starting to get golden brown around the edges. If they cook too long, they will be crunchy and not quite as good, so keep an eye on them.



Allow them to cool before frosting. My mom makes her frosting out of powdered sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, and food coloring, but by the time I'm finished mixing and baking the cookies, I usually resort to using a container of Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines frosting and I also like to add sprinkles :D. They make me feel like a kid again!

Lex's Famous Seak Rub

Well... it's famous in our house :). I've been experimenting with marinades and rubs for the past 6 months or so and this one really is a winner. I was a little worried about the ones I made with a significant amount of brown sugar, but this one doesn't seem to thicken or stick to the pan/grill really at all.

Here are all of the spices needed for the rub... very simple!

Just in case you can't see all of them (sorry for the poor picture quality), they are as follows: minced garlic, black pepper, Lawry's Seasoning Salt, Onion Powder, Parsley flakes, and Brown Sugar. I usually just throw things into a bowl without measuring, but for the sake of sharing it with you, I tried to estimate amounts when I made it for tonight's dinner :).

For 2- 10oz. steaks or 1- 22oz. flat iron steak (what I made tonight):

1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/8 tsp. (or less = a "dash") black pepper

I stir all of this together in a bowl with a fork and this is how it should look:



In a baking dish or tupperware or any other container you can seal, place the steak and sprinkle half of the rub on one side. Use your fingers to massage it into the meat, taking care to cover the entire surface. Turn steak over and use the rest of the rub.


Seal the steak (tupperware lid, plastic wrap, and foil are all good options) in the container of your choice and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. When it's ready, cook to your desired done-ness (yes, I just made up the word), and eat. Our favorite ways to cook it are 1) on our gas grill outside (amazing flavor!), and 2) broiling in the oven for 15 minutes (without turning the steak - will be on the rare side of medium-rare).



Good luck! Let me know if you try it and what you think :).

Basic Spaghetti Sauce

Hey everyone, I hope you're having a splendid week. Yay for Friday! I wanted to post a super easy recipe that I use almost weekly for a variety of dishes: basic spaghetti sauce. I use the smell test for this (smell test = smell spices and add whatever smells like it would taste good in the recipe) and have come up with what I think is a good combination of ingredients :).

Start with a can of tomato sauce... I always use Hunt's brand. You can use a small can or large, depending on what kind of pasta you're making the sauce for. It's all up to you! Let it warm up a bit, but don't put it on high heat or you'll have sauce splattering everywhere :).

While it's in a pot on the stove, I add the following spices:
*Minced Garlic (1/2 tsp?)
*Oregano (1 tsp)
*Parsley (1 tsp)
*dash of salt & pepper
*Grated Parmesan cheese (Kraft or whatever brand is fine) - I eventually add probably about 1/8-1/4 c.

Add the spices and stir... I sprinkle a little of the Parmesan cheese into the mix until I get a taste I like. I like my sauce to be a little cheesy :).

So basically, here's what I do for meat spaghetti:
Brown the beef and drain.
Add tomato sauce.
Add spices and stir, taste.
Add more spices/cheese, stir, taste.
Add more cheese, stir, taste.
Add more cheese, stir, taste.

This continues until I think it's yummy enough to serve :). This sauce goes great with spaghetti noodles, angel hair noodles (our favorite), and tortellini (another favorite).

If you want to try the tortellini, I highly suggest this recipe:
Dice up raw skinless & boneless chicken breasts. Put olive oil in a pan, add chicken and cook until you can cut a piece easily with the turner/spatula. Then, you can either make the sauce (basic sauce recipe above) in the same pan as the chicken or make it in a separate pot and dump it in with the chicken when you're done.

In a separate pot, boil about 4-6 cups of water and add the tortellini. Our favorite brand is Buitoni and we usually get the "three cheese" kind. Put the tortellini in the water and boil for about 10 minutes, or until it's soft enough to eat. Combine the chicken, sauce, and pasta together in a bowl and serve! This is also yummy with some sweet corn added :).

Anyway, that's about it for the sauce :). I posted 3 recipes in the same post!!! Good luck and please let me know if you try any of them :). Have a great weekend!

Julie & Julia

I've been psyched out of my mind since I saw the previews for this movie. And today I came across Julie's actual blog!!! How cool is that?! :) I added it in the sidebar (my favorite blogs), but I'll post it here too :)

The title is "What could happen?"
http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/

Also, at the bottom of my blog list, you'll see the link to her original blog, from 2002-2004 :).

Happy cooking!