• stuffed peppers

    My sister-in-law (and someone else but I can’t remember who) gave me a huge bag of peppers. I’m still not in the mood to put food up—for all I know, there’s a million bags of peppers in the bottom of my freezer—and there were too many to eat up fresh, so I decided to make a new-to-me recipe: stuffed peppers.

    Stuffed peppers have always seemed like:

    a) an elitist, stuffy (ha!) dish, and
    b) a taboo,

    because:

    a) hello, who spends time hollowing out peppers and making them stand on end? and
    b) soft, cooked peppers and kids don’t mix.

    But I did a little research and figured that at least I’d like them. And because I’m not adverse to letting my taste preferences override those of my family, I took the stuff-the-pepper plunge.

     

     

    The verdict?

    a) No, stuffed peppers are not pompous. Especially when you cheat by cutting them in half and laying them out flat on their backs. A belly-up pepper is decidedly not as intimidating as a standing one.

    b) Yes, the kids will probably turn up their noses, but they are so incredibly delicious that who gives a fig. I happily ate all the leftovers and then felt sad when they were gone.

    Stuffed Peppers
    With inspiration from: Epicurious (Bon Appetit, another Bon Appetit, and Gourmet) and Finding Harmony

    This is a formula, not a recipe—I didn’t measure a thing. Which proves, once and for all, that stuffed peppers are nothing to fear. 

    I used sweet peppers and banana peppers. I loved the bite and texture (thinner and less mushy) of the banana ones, but both were excellent.

    8-10 gnarly peppers, halved and cored
    2-3 peppers, diced
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1 generous pound bulk sausage
    2 onions, chopped
    5 cloves garlic, minced
    1 tablespoon smoked paprika
    1 tablespoon dried parsley (fresh would be best!)
    1 teaspoon black pepper
    1/8 teaspoon chipotle pepper (or chile cobán)
    salt
    2-3 cups cooked brown rice
    2½ cups tomato sauce, divided
    1 egg, beaten
    1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

    Arrange the pepper halves in two 9×13 glass pans and set aside.

    Put the chopped peppers, sausage onions, and garlic, along with the olive oil, in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Add the paprika, parsley, black pepper, chipotle pepper, and salt, and cook another minute. Stir in the brown rice, ½ cup of tomato sauce, and the egg and stir well. Remove from heat.

    Spoon the rice and sausage mixture into the pepper halves, pressing it firmly into the cavities—you want as much filling as possible per pepper. Spread/sprinkle the remaining two cups of sauce over the peppers.

    Bake the peppers uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until the peppers get slightly brown around the edges and look weary. Remove from oven, sprinkle with the cheese, and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese.

    Leftovers make superb lunches.

    Have you taken the stuff-the-pepper plunge? Any tips and/or fabulous recipes to share?
    Also, do cooked stuffed peppers freeze well?
  • the quotidian (10.28.13)

    Quotidian: daily, usual or customary;
    everyday; ordinary; commonplace

    *
    Far away we went,
    and then we did return.
    Now we are settlin’ in
    and again have quotidian!

    Making homemade wines.

    The welcome-home sign outside my older daughter’s Sunday School class.
    Endless hours of make-believe. 
    In our welcome-home boxes: evaporated milk, canned pumpkin, and apple butter. 
    So I made pie.
    At the birthday boy’s request: homemade potato chips.
    Big skillet cornbread.
    New: both the sister-in-law and the baby.
    Pensive: my niece.
    My son took this picture. He said, “It’s a great picture, Mom! Look at the lighting!”
    My love.
    PS. Did you notice how many times I used the word home? I’m not apologizing.

  • random

    On Monday, my husband went to work.

    “This is my first day of work this year!” he giggled, hoisting his bags over his shoulder and heading for the door.

    “Do you want to go stand by your truck with your lunch box and I can take a photo of your First Day of Work?” I asked.

    And then he giggled some more.

    ***

    The light is different here. The beginning and ending of each day is longer, the light gentler. Taking pictures indoors is, once again, a rewarding option. Probably because this house doesn’t have a green plastic lid on it:

    a green plastic lid and leaky walls: it was a bad storm 
    (the lid leaked, too)

    ***

    We’re halfway through our Reading Week. It’s fun.

    It’s also time consuming. You can’t really get anything else done when you’re staring at a page.

    It’s a good discipline for me to set aside my Get Something Done attitude and work at absorbing words.

    But, like I said, it’s fun. So then I get sucked into absorbing and don’t do much doing. Which is the point!

    But because I’m a Producer and an Analyzer, I start worrying that I need to find balance and then I get all stressed that I won’t. Which is not the point.

    ***

    Queenie and Glennon

    1. Queenie did a blog up-do and I’m tickled pink. Just look at that header! She’s a great writer: honest and wry with a hearty dash of wit. Love her. (She’s also my sister-in-law once removed. Or something. We don’t talk—we just read each other.) Some of my favorite posts:

    *The first week of homeschooling
    *Birds and Bees
    *Not a poem

    2. Glennon got her teeth cleaned.

    ***

    It’s my boy’s birthday. The book I picked out for him at the library couldn’t be more fitting, title-wise.

    He’s taller than me, you know. He might be mouthier, too.

    I love him. Some days I even like him.

    ***

    I went shopping last night. When I got home, this is what I wrote on Facebook:  

    I went to Sharp Shopper tonight. I feel like I need to debrief. Or go to confession.

    The cheap prices, the choices, the ginormous quantities…they blew me away. I was left with a full cart, a fuzzy brain, and blurry vision. So I went to a little restaurant and refueled with this salad. And then I hit the library, BAM.

    Today I’m doing a lot of sitting.

    And a lot of eating.

    ***

    Speaking of books: what newly-released books should I be made aware of? I’d love a good read-aloud. (I aim for a middle school level.)

    Also, do you know of any good books for teen boys? (Especially ones—books, not boys—that can be downloaded for free through Amazon Prime.)

    ***

    Because…WE HAVE AMAZON PRIME. We did away with Netflix (whimper) and took the jump into full-blown North American high-speed consumerism and I love it.

    Except I’m not really into spending money yet because we have no budget since we can’t find the folder with all our budget papers. Kinda inconvenient, really. Makes me panicky, if I think about it. We had a good system going and now the system is gone and we are going to crash and burn. Especially now that we have Amazon Prime.

    We’re figuring out the Kindle downloading thing, and we’re learning how Amazon Instant Streaming works (mainly by getting as much practice as possible via DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON THREE, BABY), and yesterday I realized my plastic wrap wasn’t tough enough, I sat down and ordered my fancy favorite wrap and it will be here tomorrow which is positively amazing!

    Except I can’t shake the worry that I’m damaging the environment with all the shipping this and shipping that. But then I think, the UPS truck is making his rounds anyway—is an order here or there going to really make a difference?

    ***

    My older daughter is now the same shoe size that I am. She is begging for my flip-flops, my sandals, and my boots. Does this mean that if I have a willing and eager recipient for my old (but not completely worn-out) black boots, that I am justified in getting a new pair?

    Hm….

    ***

    Spanish is (relatively) easy to learn, but it once you start moving between countries, it gets complicated, like so.

    ***

    When scrolling through this month’s photos in Picasa, I’m always caught off-guard by the pictures at the first of the month…

    sick and miserable

    I never told you about the ant flash mob. 

    …and the pictures now.

    my new, oh-so-sweet niece
    monitoring our three (THREE!) waffle irons
    real (REAL!) whipped cream 

    What different worlds!

    Seeing our Guatemala house brings back a wave of memories, rough and jagged and bulky, and my throat constricts. Not because I’m sad or homesick, but because of the intensity of the change. The vast difference. The sharp abruptness.

    Here, I have a quart of whipping cream (and a quart of half-and-half!) in my fridge (O, white giantess that stands in the corner, purr-ur-urring), and there I had none. I like (scratch that—adore) my dairy-filled fridge so much better than the little dinky Guatemalan one!

    I don’t feel guilty for liking this one better, either. It’s just that there are two worlds and they are so different and I lived in them both and thinking about that makes my throat hurt and my eyes smart.

    That’s all.