Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Stuffed Pepper Casserole
Prep: 15 minutes • Bake: 25 minutes • Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 pound Meat Masters 90% extra lean ground beef
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 green, red and/or yellow bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 package (8.5 ounces) precooked whole grain Santa Fe rice (I couldn't find this at my Schnuck's, but I found some pre-cooked brown rise in a two-cup package.)
1 jar (26 ounces) Culinaria tomato basil pasta sauce
1/2 teaspoon Culinaria Italian seasoning
1 cup Kraft finely shredded Italian five cheese blend, divided
Crushed red pepper, to taste (I added this.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. In large skillet, cook ground beef, garlic, bell pepper and onion over medium-high heat until beef browns and onion is tender, breaking up meat with side of spoon. Massage bag of rice to help separate grains. Stir in rice, pasta sauce, Italian seasoning and 1/2 cup cheese.

Transfer beef mixture to 9 x 9-inch or 2-quart glass or ceramic baking dish; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned and sauce bubbles around side of pan.

Each Serving: about 380 calories, 17 g total fat (8 g saturated), 65 mg cholesterol, 630 mg sodium, 34 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 23 g protein

Slow Cooker Carolina BBQ

1 (5 lb) bone-in pork shoulder roast
1 T salt
ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 T hot pepper sauce
2 t cayenne pepper
2 t crushed red pepper flakes

1.  Place the pork shoulder into a slow cooker and season with salt and pepper.  Pour the vinegar around the pork.  Cover, and cook on low for 12 hours.  Pork should easily pull apart into strands.

2.  Remove the pork from the slow cooker and discard any bones.  Strain out the liquid, saving 2 cups.  Shred the pork using tongs or two forks and return to the slow cooker. 

For the sauce,stir the brown sugar, hot pepper sauce, cayenne pepper, and crushed red pepper into the reserved sauce.  Mix into the pork in the slow cooker.  Cover and keep on low until serving.  (I made this sauce, but ended up using bottled Corky's sauce to taste instead.  Todd used Sticky Fingers Carolina Mustard Style and it was good, too.)

From allrecipes.com

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Week of November 28-December 4

It takes nine hours to drive from BR to Memphis.  Walter grudgingly allows a stop whenever I request one, but he makes us get lunch and gas in one place and eat on the road.  So it's a pretty hard nine hours without BR to look forward to at the end.  We got back to Memphis about 4:00 Sunday evening and both of us were dog-tired. I pulled some Costco lasagna out of the freezer and we had that for dinner with some buttered bread.

Monday night I tried a dish that was one of the Cooking Light Reader Recipe winners: Spicy Chicken Sausage Cacciatore on Creamy Polenta.  It was so easy and very good.  This will be a new staple!

Tuesday was Walter's birthday!  We went to dinner at Andrew Michael on Brookhaven Circle.  He had the Maw Maw's Ravioli and I had their lasagna (can't have too much lasagna!)  Theirs has a white sauce instead of a red sauce - different and good.

Wednesday I just sauteed some shrimp in some olive oil and seasoned it with Tony Chachere's seasoning.  He's my relative in some way, you know.  My maiden name is Shassere, so we're different branches of the same tree!  Added a salad and we were good to go.

Thursday.  Oh, man.  I made one of our favorite comfort foods, Beef Daube Provencal.  Just throw away all of your other beef stew recipes, cause this is the one.  Make it and let me know if I'm not right!

Friday (aka International Date Night) we headed over to DCI Gallery for their open house.  Our friend Ami Austin recently purchased the Designers Choice business and she's making lots of great improvements inside and out.  You need to check it out!  Then we went to Grove Grill for dinner. The bar was hoppin' - lots of partying going on in there.  But the dining room wasn't crowded and we had a nice time.  I had the Butternut Squash/Lobster Bisque and couldn't really detect much lobster in it, so I'll have to take their word for it.  And I have to say that I was disappointed in my crab cake.  Usually they're good, but this time it tasted floury, if that's a word.  Walter had the rotisserie chicken and cleaned his plate, so I guess he liked it.

Saturday afternoon we drove over to Jonesboro to visit with Walter's Uncle George and Aunt Margaret.  He's 93 and she's 83, and both are sharp as a tack.  Margaret is an insanely good cook.  She put together a spiral bound collection of her favorite recipes and we started paging through the book while we were there.  I've had a copy that I got about 10 years ago, but it's kinda slipped my mind.  No more.  I'll be getting that baby out for sure.

Saturday night we ate at Salsa and got to catch up with our friends, Ann and Jules Wade.  We sat at their table til our food arrived and thereby avoided eating our usual two baskets of chips and dip!  Then we went to see Burlesque with Cher and Christina Aguilera.  The story line was totally predictable, the acting was so-so and the singing and dancing were spectacular!  The movie ran for an hour and forty minutes and Walter slept for an hour and thirty minutes. 

This morning we got out early and walked the new section of the Wolf River Greenway.  We couldn't go over the new bridge 'cause it doesn't open til this afternoon.  But we got an idea of how it's going to work and it's awesome.  I'm worried about parking, though.  We parked on a street in River Oaks and walked about a block to get there, crossing Humphreys Blvd.  What's going to happen when lots of folks want to be there at the same time?  I guess someone smarter than me is in charge of this.  Wouldn't you know I didn't take my camera.  I'll get some shots next time.

When we got home we put out our Christmas decorations with the exception of the front door wreath which I will go purchase shortly.  Look at this wonderful wreath that we bought at The Last Straw in BR last year on the day after Christmas for half price!

We hung it on the french doors in the breezeway so you can see it from the living room, or even from the front door.  It's 26" across and gorgeous!

Here's the back door.  I'm going to do a front door wreath just like it.  Wish I could find another wreath-hanger like this one.  We got it half price, too.

We don't do a whole lot of decorating because we're not usually here during most of the holiday.  But this year we'll return from BR early as Matthew and Martin are coming in from Seattle for a few days at the end of December.  We last saw Matthew when we went to Seattle in April, but we haven't seen Martin in forever!  He was in Budapest in April, doing a mathematics seminar - very smart guy and we're very proud of him, maybe you can tell.  So we're really looking forward to having all our boys in Memphis at one time. 

Have a great week!

Beef Daube Provencal

Beef Daube Provençal


Best Beef Recipe. This classic French braised beef, red wine, and vegetable stew is simple and delicious. It stands above all of our other beef recipes because it offers the homey comfort and convenience of pot roast yet is versatile and sophisticated enough for entertaining. Garnish with chopped fresh thyme. --Recipe by Lia Huber (November 2004)

Preheat oven to 300°.

Heat olive oil in a small Dutch oven over low heat. Add garlic to pan; cook for 5 minutes or until garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high.

Add beef to pan. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add garlic, beef, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, carrot, and next 8 ingredients (through bay leaf) to pan; bring to a boil.

Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles. Garnish with chopped fresh thyme, if desired.

Note: To make in a slow cooker, prepare through Step 2. Place beef mixture in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours.

Wine note: This satisfying beef stew deserves a rich, earthy, and soulful wine--one with a soft, thick texture. I love the complexity and juiciness of the Kuleto Estate Syrah 2004 from Napa Valley, California ($45), which elevates this stew into a princely dinner. --Karen MacNeil

Yield:  6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup stew and 1/2 cup noodles)


2 teaspoons olive oil
12 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (2-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 cup red wine
2 cups chopped carrot
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup less-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Dash of ground cloves
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bay leaf
3 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles (about 4 cups uncooked noodles)
Chopped fresh thyme (optional)

CALORIES 367 (31% from fat); FAT 12.8g (sat 4.3g,mono 5.8g,poly 0.9g); IRON 4.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 105mg; CALCIUM 76mg; CARBOHYDRATE 33.4g; SODIUM 776mg; PROTEIN 29.1g; FIBER 3.9g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2007

Spicy Chicken Sausage Cacciatore on Creamy Polenta

Spicy Chicken Sausage Cacciatore on Creamy Polenta

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1 T butter (optional)
1 tsp olive oil
1 16 oz package sweet Italian chicken (or turkey) sausage
8 oz sliced mushrooms
2 (14.5 oz) cans fire-roasted tomatoes
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

1.  Mix the first 4 ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan.  Heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils and is the consistency of mashed potatoes.  Stir in Romano cheese until melted.  Stir in butter.  Place lid on pan and keep warm over very low heat.

2.  Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet.  Add sausage and cook until brown all over and cooked through.  Move sausage to a plate.  Add mushrooms to same skillet and cook until lightly browned and softened.  Stir in tomatoes, wine, basil leaves, red pepper flakes, and rosemary.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add sausage back to skillet and heat through.

3.  To serve:  spoon 1/2 cup polenta into each of 6 bowls.  Top each with sausage mixture and a sprinkling of grated Romano cheese.  Garnish each with a basil sprig.  Serves 6.

From Cooking Light Reader Recipe Contest - Gilda Lester, Millsboro, DE

Food for Thought: The Everything of the Present

"We need not think of rebirth only in a future life. We are in actual fact reborn every moment with new thoughts and feelings, and we bring with us the karma that we made in past moments. If we were angry a moment ago, we are not going to feel good immediately. If we were loving a minute ago, we would be feeling fine now. Thus we live from moment to moment with the results of our karma. Every morning, particularly, can be seen as a rebirth. The day is young, we are full of energy, and have a whole day ahead of us. Every moment we get older and are tired enough in the evening to fall asleep and die a small death. All we can do then is toss and turn in bed, and our mind is dreamy and foggy. Every day can be regarded as a whole lifespan, since we can only live one day at a time; the past is gone and the future may or may not come; only this rebirth, this day, this moment, is important." - Ayya Khema

via Whiskey River