Stuffed Peppers

these were yummy! even the girl child that typically scoffs at peppers ate them!!

I was standing in Produce Junction last weekend on the veggie side trying to decide what I was going to make for dinner this week. I looked at the green peppers and thought hmm, it'll be a spaghetti week. Then saw how many were in the bag and though hmm, das a lotta peppers. THEN I thought (ok and said out loud), 'eh maybe I'll stuff them or something.' And with that, an idea was born. (ie the idea for a meal for dinner for the week, not the idea of stuffed peppers, I realize that's been done, lol)

I already know I was making collard greens & chorizo and would have some chorizo left over. I was also planning to make ginger-lime chicken thighs and was getting scallions and figured that could go in it as well as garlic... and with that the idea was nourished and developed. So, I had an idea, and looked at some recipes just to see what was out there. Love it when I do that and see that my adea was a workable one. :)

Yadda yadda yadda I finally got to make them last night. I'd cooked the other two dishes and a cake and blueberry muffins and bacon/egg/onion/ch egg muffins on Sunday and ran out of steam before I could do the peppers. I finally made them yesterday and hooray, for a first attempt it went darn well I think.

So, here it is if you're interested:
Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
2/5 lb chorizo (random, yes. the collards/chorizo recipe calls for 1/2lb but the way I buy it it's in 5 links, too lazy to cut the one in half, so I just use 3 of the 5.)
4 scallions finely chopped (eh definitely smaller than a rough chop but not quite a mince think)
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup cooked rice (leftover worked swimmingly)
1 can diced tomatoes (i think it actually said something like finely diced or something)
~2ish (i think?) tablespoons worcestershire sauce (i was already putting it in when i realized i should have measured it. whoops)
8 mediumish sized green peppers (i was gonna do 6 but had more filling and more peppers)
salt & pepper
shredded cheese of your choice

Preheat
375

Prep the Peppers
Slice a smidget off the bottom of the peppers to give it a flat base. Slice of the top to open it up, hollow them out. Place in a baking dish. I spread a bit of olive oil on the bottom just to make sure it didn't stick (just seemed like a good idea).

Prep the Filling
Mix it all up in a bowl.

Get ta Stuffin
Fill the peppers with the filling. I over filled them some which was fine it does shrink down once stuff starts releasing liquids and what not.

Cover & Bake
50 minutes

Almost Done
Uncover, top with cheese, put back in oven for 5 more minutes.

and Voila! Deliciousness!

Next time...
So, I could make them exactly like this again and be totally fine. Yum! Buuut, this is me. So next time - more scallions. more garlic. fresh tomatoes. more chorizo, less turkey. or hey maybe some other meat something altogether, who knows. But delish they were, I assure you. :)

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

made w/ soft pretzels - YUM! recipe to come... :)

FINALLY - (ok almost finally)

At long last I finished knitting my daughter's blanket! And long before she went a way to college, heck well before she got out of 8th grade (she's in 4th). Yeah there were times when I wondered if it would EHver be done. And now it almost is. Still have to weave in some ends, but that won't take to long. She loves it - yay!!

More Egg Muffins...(never gets old...)

Ok so they might get old at SOME point, but not yet. And this time I tried something new - broccoli, ham & cheese. Yum! Stole the idea from a friend of mine. To be honest, the thought of broccoli and egg was a tad on the unsettling side... but clearly I got over it - and good thing. TASTY!

I typically just do a dozen. But last time, they went like hotcakes! So, I considered doing double...but reconsidered since I was doing the new and wasn't sure we'd like them...but then ended up with double the 'filling' and they were delicious so I guess it all worked out. So below is the recipe for what ended up being exactly 23 muffins. If you've got a touch of OCD (I too have such moments) and need it to be 24, just use a li'l less filling and it'll get there.

What you need...
2 7 or 8oz (can't recall) ham steaks, fried up a bit and diced
about 2 cups of raw broccoli floretts (or so) boiled, roughly chopped
shredded cheese (how much and what kinds of course are totally up to you :) )
15 large eggs
milk - enough to make 3 3/4c egg batter
pepper, onion powder, and/or any other seasonings you desire (b/c of the ham and cheese, they don't particularly need salt)


What to do with it...
Preheat oven to 375.

FILLING

• Ham - I fried it up a bit, not much, enough to eat it through and give it some color, give it that fried, look, feel, taste and then diced it up.
• Broccoli - Boiled it a bit. Could also steam it, but I didn't think of that til later. Again, just a bit. I didn't drain/shock it right away so it's a little doner than I'd planned but it still worked well.Then I roughly chopped it.
• Throw it all in a bowl with shredded cheese and mix well.
• Spray the tins with cooking spray. I've found that regular works best.
• I used an 1/8c measuring cup to fill the tins and it's a great amount. You could use more or less. It'd impact how eggy they are and how many muffins you end up with. 
• If you want to add more cheese now's the time. Put it on top of the filling - not after you've added the egg batter. No clue why, but it just didn't work as well for me. 
• Sit the tins aside.

EGG BATTER

• Break the eggs into a large bowl, add your desired seasonings and beat well.
• Add milk... I actually have no clue how much. all I know is that when I do a dozen I magically end up with exactly 2c every time. So, knowing I wasn't quite doubling it, I added some milk, and then poured the mixture into a 4c measuring cup and added milk to get it to about 3 3/4cup of liquid.
• Distribute batter evenly into all cups. The batter should ideally cover the filling but not fill the cup to the rim. 

BAKE at 375 for 25 minutes and let cool for a bit.
Typically they pop right out, if not, take a knife around the edge to loosen them.
They freeze well, reheat well in a microwave or a toaster oven. They're the perfect size to put on a biscuit or slice a couple in half and put them on bread for a sandwich. They're easy to take to work. Eat em w/ a fork or a hand (the latter being my 2 year old's preference, lol).

Notes for next time: I think I'll dice the ham first and add onions. I also think I'll add cheese and broccoli to get me to the full double dozen. :)

Note to self: Glaze

Powdered sugar & cream... like sugar ganache! Yum... sometimes simple is best. Can't wait to put that on... my  next bundt cake... yum. Saw that on Unique Sweets last night and just thought of it and thought I should "write it down" so I don't forget.

Blog-a-palooza to come...

escher rocks. picked this image
cuz this entry is like everywhere
and nowhere at the same time.
seemed kinda apropros

I plan to make red/green cupcakes for the choir...cookie Christmas trees for some people (who? tbd. would be great to make them for the kids' teachers, but...well... not sure when I'd find the time to do that between now and their last day of school.)... deviled eggs for Christmas dinner (can't WAIT! getting a zig zag cutter and going to use my pastry bag to fill them...once i experiment w/ ingredients (during which I'll inevitably pretend I'm working on my audition video for Next Food Network Star - don't judge me)... is that it? well there is the apple/cr cheese/praline bunt cake I want to make - YUM (i hope, lol) but that has nada to do w/ Christmas, so i digress... anyway, if I'm a good little wannabe blogger I'll take lots of pics and blog as I go... mind you i already have two or three (or more?) recent endeavors that I have yet to blog... so much to blog... so little time...  random: so in Pinterest, I have a board for things I've pinned to other boards and then purchased/made/etc. I typically just repin the original pin...BUT what i SHOULD do is pin a pick of  my actual whatever w/ a link to my blog! Man i'm a genius! (ok i think i had that thought before just never followed thru... still genius tho, lol) ok stream of consciousness complete. hopefully i'll catch up on my blogging soon...

uh...creativity what...?

ok so somehow i gotta make this blog tru to the blurb... it seems to have become almost all about food... what's that about? is that the only realm of life in which i engage in creative escapades? if not, i need to do better at recognizing and recording them... of so - i need to fix that... hmmm...