Unstuffed Pepper Skillet

Kate shared a great recipe earlier this week -- Stuffed Peppers... unstuffed! I had stuffed peppers while I lived in Alaska, but haven't had the motivation to make them, despite the fact that I love them. So, when I saw Kate's recipe, I knew it had to go on our menu. It's delicious and easy and tastes just like stuffed peppers, with half the work!

UnStuffed Pepper Skillet - Modified from Kate

1/2 lb ground turkey (we use extra lean)
2-4 T minced onion (or 1/2 onion, diced)
2 medium carrots, sliced
3 bell peppers, seeded and cut into large chunks (we used green, yellow and orange)
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. pepper
1 15oz can of tomato sauce
1/3 C water
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp. chili powder
2 C brown rice, cooked
mozzarella cheese, shredded... for topping!


Dice peppers and carrots and set aside.

In a 10-inch (or larger) skillet, brown ground turkey with onion until meat is no longer pink. Drain grease, if necessary.

Add peppers and carrots to the ground turkey, along with 1/3 C water. Simmer veggies, covered for 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce and Italian seasoning and stir to combine.

Cover and bring skillet to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes, until veggies reach desired tenderness.

When veggies are starting to get tender, add cooked rice.

Stir and allow skillet to cook an additional 10 minutes until dish is warmed.



Serve topped with shredded mozzarella cheese. It's delicious.

Kate mentioned these are delicious wrapped in tortillas... I can't wait to try the leftovers in our homemade whole wheat tortillas with some black beans!!

This post is linked to:

• Ingredient Spotlight: Diced Tomatoes

Chili Cook-off!

Friday it is!!!!!!! The chili cook-off is here. Just for entering we get a fun apron -- and the prizes... oh, I'm excited. I'm aiming to take home an orchid :)

But, I need your help -- which chili recipe should I take?!

Lucy's AMAZING chili

or

Chicken Chili (this is also AMAZING, even though AMAZING is not in the title)

What do you think?

Carmelitas

Delicious. Oats, chocolate, caramel -- what more could a girl want?! Or a boy, for that matter. Frog Prince loves these.

Warning: These are incredibly addicting. Do not double. Do not make when you only want one sweet treat to eat... it will be hard to stop after just one. We know from experience. Frog Prince blames these bars for making him gain 5 pounds the first time he spent Christmas with my family....I think there were probably other culprits too. But, we want to give you fair warning.

Carmelitas - From the Flatten Family

2 C flour (I tried 1 C whole wheat, 1 C all-purpose, and it tastes great!)
2 C oatmeal (regular or quick cook; we use quick most often)
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 C butter, melted (I use less, about 1 C)
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dark chocolate!!)
1 jar Smuckers caramel ice cream topping (Fat Free... not like it matters here....)
6 T flour

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt together. Stir well.

Add in melted butter and mix well to form crumbs.


Press half of the crumbs into a 9x13 pan. Then, bake crust at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.

Remove from the oven, and sprinkle chocolate chips over the crust.

Blend caramel and 6 T flour together.

Then, pour the caramel mix over the chocolate chips.

Sprinkle with the remaining oatmeal crumb mixture.

Continue baking for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. (The bars may look gooey, depending on how much butter you use... do not over bake! Mine don't look gooey because I use less butter; they're a bit crumbly, but excellent none-the-less)

Resist the urge to eat one right when they come out of the oven. Chill for 1-2 hours before cutting and serving. We usually leave our bars on the counter for 2-3 hours before eating... okay, we probably sneak a bite after the first 45 minutes or so.... :) Just keeping it real.


As a disclaimer -- the less butter you use, the more crumbly the bars become. I use less butter and we don't mind them crumbly. My mom makes the "full" recipe, and her bars are gooey and delicious... and a real treat.

This recipe is linked at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Chocolate Friday!

Mozzarella Mushroom Chicken

Did someone say mushrooms? And cheese? If you haven't gathered by now, these are two ingredients we love. So, when I saw this recipe from Summer, I knew we'd have a winner. It went together in a few minutes, and the chicken was moist and deliciously seasoned.

Mozzarella Mushroom Chicken - Modified from Summer

1-2 T olive oil
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 tablespoon garlic powder
2-4 clove garlic, minced
8oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese (we used an Italian blend)


Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place chicken in the skillet, and season with garlic powder and garlic. Cook 12 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear.
Meanwhile, in another pan, saute mushrooms in garlic, until just about "done".

Then, stir mushrooms into the skillet to finish cooking.

Layer mushrooms on chicken and top with cheese. Cover, and cook an additional 5 minutes or so until cheese is melted.
Serve with rice and veggies!

Crunchy Honey Granola Bars

Frog Prince eats granola bars like they grow on trees. While we're partial to Quaker Chewy granola bars (they are the only ones made without tree nuts!), I've been trying a bunch of different recipes to find one that we can make ourselves.

Most of the recipes I've found online use peanut butter or seeds or nuts...., so I try to modify them. This one uses honey, and is quite delicious.

Crunchy Honey Granola Bars - Modified from SuperHealthyKids

2 C oats (1 C old fashioned, 1 C instant)
1 C packed brown sugar
1 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C honey
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt (I used less)
1 tsp. vanilla
Add-ins... raisins/other dried fruit, chocolate chips

In a bowl, combine dry ingredients.

Stir together to mix well.

Add in honey and vanilla. Use a fork to mix... making to form clumps. Then, add in fruit or other add-ins.

Spray a 9x13 pan (or 2 8x8 pans), and press the granola bar mix in the pan. Mix will be very crumbly. (It looks so crumbly that I wasn't sure they'd actually be bars when done... but they were!)


Bake at 325 for 20 minutes, until the edges of the granola bars are browned.

Allow to cool completely before cutting. Then, cut into strips to make granola bars. Store in an airtight container.

Frog Prince gave these two thumbs up!

This recipe is linked up at Tasty Tuesday!

Crockpot Vegetable Broth/Stock

A new blogging buddy of mine, Taryn, inspired me to use my veggie peelings (leftovers) and make homemade veggie broth! It looked so easy to make, and wonderful because I know what's in it, and as an added bonus, you can make it in the crockpot!

Crockpot Veggie Broth - From Taryn

Veggie "scraps" of your choosing:

• Carrots (tops, peelings)
  
• Peppers (stems, no seeds)
• Potatoes (skins)
• Tomatoes (tops)
• Celery (bottoms of stalks, leaves)
• Mushrooms (bottoms)
• Zucchini (peels)
• Onions
  

Water, enough to cover the veggies
Minced onion (if you don't add onion)


Collect veggie peelings/scraps in a container in your fridge for about a week, or until you have enough to fill a crockpot.

Place veggies in the crockpot, and add water -- just enough to cover the veggies.


Turn the crockpot to low and cook for 8-12 hours, or on high for 4-6 hours.

Allow stock to cool, and then strain to remove veggie parts.


Pour into containers to store. I also took Taryn's advice and froze broth as ice cubes... for mine, 8 cubes = 1 C broth. This way, if I have a recipe calling for just a bit of broth, I can add in the cubes.

I've heard that if I want a chicken broth... I just need to add some chicken scraps and make it in a similar fashion. Maybe I'll be brave and try that soon.

The post is linked to the Carnival of Super Foods: Broth.

Cake Batter Ice Cream

Cake Batter Ice Cream - Inspired by Sherry's recipe

1 C milk (or 1/2 C milk, 1/2 C cream)
1/2 C sugar (or less, depending on how sweet you like it)
2 C Half and Half (I use Fat-Free)
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C yellow cake mix

Freeze ice cream bowl as directed.

In a large bowl, combine together sugar and the cake mix -- stir to combine.



Then, add the half and half along with the milk and stir until cake mix and sugar are well mixed. Add vanilla.



Pour into ice cream maker and make according to directions. Mine takes about 25 minutes. Then... enjoy :)

Try this in a delicious ice cream cake!!

Penne with Broccoli and Sausage

This dish is delicious -- great combination of flavors, and it went together very quickly. It's going on our menu again :)

This pasta uses a bean sauce rather than a cream-based one. My hubby, who's not a huge bean fan, even enjoyed this one. I love that we were able to get some more beans in our diet without really even noticing it. Thanks for the tip on making a bean-sauce, Katie!

Penne with Broccoli and Sausage - Adapted from Katie

1 head broccoli, cut into small florets (or 1 bag, frozen broccoli florets)

3 Italian sausages

1 lb whole wheat pasta

1 red pepper, diced (or 1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes)
1/2 C Parmesan cheese

1/2 C pureed, cooked vegetables, optional (I used white beans)

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Add the broccoli florets to the pasta water with 5-6 minutes left before the pasta is done.

Drain pasta (*If you're not adding pureed beans, keep ½ cup pasta water before draining) and return to the pan.

While the pasta is cooking, remove casing from sausages and crumble into large skillet.

Add 1/4 cup water and cook over medium-high heat until water is evaporated and sausage is no longer pink (about 10-12 minutes). Drain excess fat from the sausage.

Add red pepper (or sun dried tomatoes) to the sausage, and saute for an additional 5 minutes or so, until peppers are tender.

In the pasta pot, combine broccoli pasta mix with the sausage mixture.

Make pureed bean sauce -- we used 1/2 C cooked/canned white northern beans, pureed in our blender with about 2 T milk. Add 1 T of milk at a time to reach the right consistency.

Add in the pureed beans and stir to combine. If you don't use pureed veggies, add 1/2 C reserved pasta water.

Add Parmesan cheese and stir to combine.

Enjoy!

This recipe is linked to Tammy's In-Season Swap: Broccoli and to Super Foods: Beans!