storyteller

         Hello All ………     Have I got a new recipe for you.  It seems that my Hubby planted a couple of Pepper Plants back in the spring and now they are putting out!!  We have been over run with Bell Peppers.  I am running out of space to put them in the freezer as you can imagine.  There is only so many that 2 people can use and the plants are producing at least 6-8 every other day.  So I got online and looked up Stuffed Pepper recipes. 

      There are so many and they all call for some elaborate ingredients some of which I have never used.  And you know by the time you buy everything you need it cost a fortune to make the dish you might as well go eat out.

Simple Stuffed Peppers

6 large Green Bell Peppers  (cored and washed) set aside

1 lb. Sausage (I use mild)

1/2 to 3/4 lb. of Ground Chuck

1 med. onion chopped

3 C. Rice and 3 C. water- Minute rice made to the directions

1 can Tomato Sauce 8oz size

Barbecue Spice, Cayenne Pepper, salt and pepper

1 C. Shredded Cheese (I used Fiesta/Mexican type Cheese)

1 Large oblong Glass Baking dish sprayed with cooking spray                                                        any kind you like

Preheat oven to 375*

In a ex-large skillet set heat at med-low use a table spoon or so of cooking oil or spray and put in onion to start, add your sausage cutting it up or breaking it up into small chunks. Cover and let cook about 5 min.  I put that to one side of my skillet, then add your ground chuck breaking it up too.  Cover and let it cook another few minutes.  While that is cooking you prepare your rice in a large sauce pan, cover and let it sit, do not let it totally get done.  Use your own judgement on time.  It will still have a little bit of water in the pan, that is ok. 

 Stir up all your meat mixture, add salt and pepper to taste.  Now drain off the fat and liquid.  Turn off the heat to that burner so you do not burn it.  In the ex-large skillet mix in your rice/water mixture, add as much of the barbecue spice and cayenne pepper as you want adjust to your taste. Stir in 1/2 of the can Tomato sauce.  Now you are ready to stuff your peppers. 

Do them over your glass dish that is already prepared that way any stuffing that falls off falls in the dish you are baking them in.  I layed my peppers on their side with the stuffed end toward the middle of the dish.  My peppers were more long than squatty. Take all the unused stuffing and spoon it down into any holes around the peppers and into the middle using all of it.  Take the last 1/2 of the tomato sauce and drizzle it all over the peppers in the dish.  Cover with foil and bake 20-30 minutes.  Check them about 1/2 way through to see if they are done…..you do not want them too mushy, nor crunchy.

Take them out of oven uncover and quickly sprinkle the cheese over them and watch it melt.  They are ready to serve as the main dish or with other veggies of the season. 

         These turned out absolutely delicious and it was really fast and filling.  My husband said they were the best he has had….and it is hard to compete with his moms’ cooking she is from Russia, raised in Germany.  He suggested that I use the same recipe for stuffed cabbage except to put chopped up pepper in the stuffing for that.  I did not use chopped up peppers in this because It is just enough pepper taste and not overwhelming with the peppers you use to stuff.  But to each his or her own.  Hope you try it and enjoy!

Storyteller

    Making Great Stuffing really isn’t rocket science.  But I guess it helps if your Mother was a good cook to begin with and taught you tips and tricks to her favorite recipes.  My version of a great cook is someone who has a basic recipe and can think fast on their feet and improvise that recipe to make it their own.  I also know that if the crowd you are feeding comes back for seconds, and raves about your items you just might have something that other people lack.  I look forward to Thanks Giving, I love to make Turkey and Stuffing, and I am one of those that makes the stuffing to put inside the bird.  I take all the precautions to insure that it is safe, and delicious.

     I am giving the recipe that makes really great stuffing here, use it in good health and enjoy.  Make it the first time and then when you have had it this way, you can think of all the items that you can add to it next time.  That way you don’t get into a rut with the stuffing.  I also make this stuffing at other times of the year just to give a break away from Potatoes, or Noodles during the year as far as side dishes. 

      It is very simple and easy to make:

Living today on a shoe string budget seems to be effecting all Business across the board, as people are cutting out things that are unnecessary within their consumption.  A lot of people are downsizing their consumption accordingly, and this could be a good thing in respects to the Environment.   We have become one of the most wasteful societies within the global community at large,  just my opinion.  I know this by comparing what I used to do as far as consumption of products compared to when I actually had an excess of money as compared to now in the present when my money is now limited as I am still unemployed and not receiving my unemployment.  The income I used to have would feed the household with a little left over to dine out once in a while, or take in a movie, or go to a social event of which I would make a special dish to take along.  And even giving gifts to newly weds, graduates, and new babies within our realm of family and friends.

I find that there are some simple changes that have been made within my household.  Instead of buying the name brand items that I used to purchase I have found other items that are comparable to that brand, also checking the  labels I found that the items listed in the ingredients panel are so similar that you cannot tell the difference except in the price.  In some cases that can add up to  $.40- $1.00 per item.  Shopping with coupons is another way that people can save additionally.  They can be found in most Sunday papers, and traded amongst friends there are even some stores that offer up coupons in a bin that other customers cannot use and so they leave them there where they are up for grabs.

Other changes can be as simple as going to the grocery store only one time a week, and now finding that I am planning out meals more frequently than before.  Which can ultimately save money in the long run.  With our house hold using up left overs, as  an end of the week thing, turning one day a week into a smorgasbord kind of meal, and all things are offered up as a final send off.  If it is not wanted in this meal, or we are just plain sick of the item whatever is left is Frozen for future use.  Dated and packaged/labeled for helpings within.  This can also be an advantage for a quick and ready thing for future use.   Example of this is that say my shift is from 9am to 7pm, and my other 1/2 wants to eat at 5 pm….then he is free to make his choices from the frozen ready to eat items which are readily available at his fingertips, and he does not have to wait for me to arrive home by say 7:30 pm. 

He can read the label which I have made on the package.  What is inside, how many helpings, and how to fix in the microwave such as to defrost first and even what buttons to use on the microwave so that he cannot mess it up. On this label there are also suggestions on what to have with the item in question.  Granted it is somewhat time consuming at first, but if your household has items that are staples or favorites on a weekly basis that can be made simply on the computer and printed off in duplicates and stored in a file for future use.  As in our household things like Spaghetti, Ziti, Chile, Stews, Chicken and Dumplings, Baked Macc & Cheese with Ham, even Kielbasi & Potato Casserole.  These have become things that I make throughout the month.  I have made labels ahead that have a blank for the date of freezing, a blank for serving size, and a blank for setting on Microwave. 

I have noticed that since I started doing this it is saving a lot of money, because I do not buy those frozen TV dinners as often as I used to.  At $1.89 -$2.49 ea. for the Man Size meal to fill my man up that turns into on average of almost $40.00 a month savings, and the fact that this was added to the cost of making all the other items. So now I do  throw those last little bits out any more.I even hold on to the vegetables such as peas, corn, Lima beans,   boiled potatoes, baby carrots, and even fresh pea pods, celery, onions, chunked up tomatoes.  These items can be put directly into freezer bags with labels.  These come in handy for stews, and goulash, even home made soups.  If you have several of these baggies frozen flat they do not take up much space and all you need to do is make your stock, with your meat and let that simmer at about 1/2 hour before ready to serve take the baggies out and put the frozen veggies right into stock, add noodles, or rice and simmer on low.  Makes great soup.  The general idea here is to stretch the Food Budget even further than what you have done before. There is also another way to save on the food budget that I used to do when I had my first child. 

I made his baby-food from our left overs, by putting them in the blender and using the small Tupperware cups that were in the size of baby-food jars.  And these would freeze quite well, which did save quite a bit of money when he was of the age where he was eating more solid food and this seemed to fill him up better than the store bought baby-food.   My son went from eating baby food at 3 months to eating almost everything we would eat in variety by the time he was 8 months old.  And we never had food issues, because he tried everything that his father and I would eat, less the spices.  This child liked all foods,  he would eat broccoli, Brussels sprouts, beets, squash even the meats like pork and chicken.  He never had any of the processed baby-food, unless it was the fruits, or special items  on occasion.  I would do this every evening after dinner if I knew we would not eat the small amount of leftovers, and do not forget to label them with date and use them up within  1  month or so.  I would never let them stay in the freezer too long..  

I hope that this has helped someone today who as the rest of us may be struggling with the cost of living in today’s world as things are somewhat unstable. Hopefully they will get better, but this will continue to help you save money. Have a good day!

Fall ….and the recipe books come out of hiding and are dusted off.  Everyone is looking for new ways to help get rid of the Squash, Zucchini,  Pumpkins, Apples, and other assorted goodies that are left from the growing season. Or they are starting to plan ahead for that Thanksgiving Dinner they are going to be preparing soon.   I had a limited childhood, as far as vegetables go, the only things we ate were what the stepfather liked.  Now don’t get me wrong it was a pretty good selection, but as an adult I found a wider range of items.  I never knew how to cook things like Squash because we never had it. I also knew nothing about how to cook soup beans, or navy beans.  Somehow I did not know they grew in feilds and were harvested, that they actually had to be picked and dried.  Dried beans I  never knew how good this could be. 

 And lets not even mention that I did not know you could make a concoction of pan drippings (usually  from sausage or bacon) add  flour and milk and make a creamy good sauce to put over a biscuit!   It is a white sauce not the red kind.  Oh and may I say that while I was growing up and helping in the Kitchen, I thought a biscuit came from a box with the name of Jiffy Mix.  Or they came out of a cylinder with the name of Refrigerator on them.    I am from mainly an Italian household if that helps to clarify anything, if it didn’t  have a sauce on it we didn’t have it.   My mother would try to accommodate her tyrant with Meat and Potatoes cooked in variations of Italian marinades.   And there was always the old standby of stew w/ puffy dumplings, Chili, Soups, Pot Pies, and  always room for Turkey w/ Stuffing.  

Sometimes she would lie about it and say to all 5 of us children, “You’ve had this before, I just haven’t made it in awhile.”  We always knew when she said that we were in trouble, she was trying out a new recipe on us the scapegoats!  We knew, but we never let on that we knew, because she may have found a good recipe this time.  Do not get me wrong, my mother was a good cook, she made killer potato salad and macaroni salad and was into baking, cakes, and frosting, pastry and so on.   And that could have been attributed to her father Bill, my grandfather.  He was a pastry chef, and owned a couple of Bakeries.  I remember he was a great cook, and I still use some of our family recipes like  Lasagna, and Baked Ziti, and also his recipe for Italian Butter-cream Icing.    But there really is such a variety out there that women everywhere should have access to all there is, and never be afraid to ask for help.  I didn’t ask because she would have nothing nice to say to me about wanting to get away from the Italian (her) way of cooking. 

It was when I met my now ex-husband that I was exposed to the Country cooking through his mother.  And that woman could cook!  She taught me a whole new world of ways  to fix all kinds of items.  I learned about Biscuits (Cat Head Biscuits) and Red Eye Gravy, Soup Beans and Cornbread served with a chunk of Onion. Chicken n’dumplings, Grits, and  How to make country ham.   Then I was introduced to her relatives and  they all cooked, and had great recipes, and they shared from a group called Easter Star.  OMG!!  I found out about the world of information that wasn’t even on the Internet back then.  I am talking this was 20-25 years ago.  And It is all inside my head, all of it !! there are a few recipes that are on paper, but I can reference them when needed. 

I was one of these people who could watch and learn or so I thought I could.  My ex-husband at the time being newly wed was a good sport….he was a good man.  I tried one night to make country ham, biscuits and gravy and other things,  the other things was easy.  But let me tell you about my poor try at the rest!  It was funny now that I think about it.  The biscuits looked like hockey pucks, and they were actually flat and black. If I had thrown one I would have killed someone!  NOT Kidding.  The gravy ended up lumpy and resembled wall paper paste, actually the spoon stood up in it .  And that country ham, I later found out that you have to soak that stuff in cold water for a bit to take the salty taste out of it……If you don’t it is like opening up the salt container and just chug-a-lugging it….I kid you not!  

I know the man loved me because he ate it!  I took a bite and thought to myself I just wanted to die….eating that meal would have done it. I made him stop eating it, and we went out……and so did the meal.  It took me a good year of try and try again, with the help of his mother to master gravy and real from scratch biscuits.  I am good at it a real pro now  20 years later, I even know how to make chocolate gravy, so practice helps.

It must be true what they say ”The way to a mans’ heart is through his stomach” because every time I make food to take to some function I always get a proposal.  I guess I will worry when I do not get any proposals anymore.  By all means get out a favorite recipe and share it with others…..It might bring a new friend into your midst, or it may make its way into a newspaper, or just into an acquaintances recipe box.  But you will never know how much that recipe is worth, if anything it may mean the world  to the person receiving it.   Hope you had a giggle, and have a good  day!