Stuffed Pepper Casserole

…it’s what’s for supper tonight!
Ingredients

• 4 large green bell peppers
• 1-1 1/2 lb  ground beef
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (12-14 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 1/2  pound raw bacon
• 8 oz. tomato sauce
• 2-3 chopped tomatoes (or a can of tomatoes)
• up to 2 cups shredded cheddar (optional)

Directions
Cut tops off peppers and set aside (for later use).  After removing seeds/membranes, cut each pepper into 8 pieces.  Cook peppers in boiling water for 3-5 minutes.  Remove and place in the bottom of a casserole dish.  (A 7x11 pan would be a good size.  This dish is EASY to add to if you want to use a 9 x 13)

Brown ground beef and onions.  Add salt, pepper, rice, corn, tomatoes and sauce.  At this point you can also add black beans if you like them…or pinto beans…and we really like it with jalapeno peppers sliced into the mix as well. Heat through.
Spread hot filling on top of peppers. 

Top with pepper tops, (only 4 pepper tops is never enough to cover the whole casserole, but it looks nice)  raw bacon slices and cheese (or cheese and then bacon…whichever you prefer.)

Bake stuffed peppers at 350° for 30 minutes, or til the bacon is done.

ENJOY!

Celebrating!

I made a really yummy cake to celebrate the fact that everyone was going to be home for the weekend.  Cameron and Caleb quite successfully completed their first and third years at the University of Iowa.  We are so proud of them!

Cameron will be managing our local pool for the summer, so he’s home for a while.  Caleb has a job in Iowa City so he just came home for the weekend.  We enjoyed having everyone here for that brief time.

In celebration, this is the cake I made.

I simply made a double layer 9 inch chocolate cake following the recipe on the box (I also added a cup or so of chocolate chips into the batter, just because I could)  After the layers were baked, I cooled them, and stacked them together with a layer of frosting in the middle.  I frosted the entire cake with chocolate frosting.  Then, I just covered the outside of the cake with mini Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Is it ok to admit that I even impressed myself with this cake?  It was SO easy, and oh.  my.  goodness.  Was it ever delicious????  Yes, is the answer!

Ron felt that he had an entire year’s worth of chocolate with just one serving.  Others of us…not so much, LOL.  It was (obviously) VERY, very rich.  But amazing. 

Try it for your next celebration.  You won’t regret it!

A Perfect Winter Day meal

at our home is homemade (from scratch!) tomato soup with cheese and croutons, and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Mmmmm….a hit with everyone!

It’s quick.  It’s EASY.  And it’s DELICIOUS.  What more can you ask for?

Organization (and Chili Cornbread Casserole)

It’s something that I struggle with, but strive for.  Our linen closet has always just been a jumbled mess, except for the occasional (and I DO mean OCCASIONAL) day or two after I decide to empty it out and try to match up sheet sets, etc.  It has always been Ron’s job to make up the extra beds when we have overnight guests, and recently, I could just tell he was so frustrated with trying to find the right sized fitted sheets that somewhat matched a right sized flat sheet. 

I’ve tried, in the past, to match up a set, and put it inside of a pillow case, so that all we would have to do is pull a pillowcase out, and we’d have a full, mostly matched set.  But when I did that, there were 2 problems.  1) you couldn’t see inside the pillowcase to tell whether the sheet set inside was a twin, double or queen sized set, and 2), they just didn’t lay flat in the closet. 

I saw a nicely organized linen closet on Pinterest a few weeks ago.  It used a basket for each size and type of sheet.  Amazingly, when I was at Bed, Bath and Beyond last week, they had canvas totes on clearance.  I had to buy some.  And this is the end result.  (It’s not perfect…I didn’t measure right, and thought the totes would fit in my closet better than they did.  I made it work, but it did take a total gutting of the closet.  That’s ok…it needed it.)

I made a yummy chili cornbread casserole for supper last week.  It was my version of a Pampered Chef recipe, and was brought to my attention by my PW friend Sonia.  Now, I have to admit what I did.  I didn’t have the PC chipotle seasoning, so I just used some fajita seasoning that I had.  But while it was simmering, I thought I’d try to kick it up a bit, by adding a couple of shakes of my homemade crushed habanero pepper flakes.  Only…the jar didn’t have a shaker lid, and I dumped a BUNCH in there.  We like things spicy, but wow…this was more than “knock your socks off” hot.  We liked it a LOT, and we all had seconds even.  But it did almost make us cry.  And we went through a lot of Kleenex.

Here’s how to make my version of

Chili Cornbread Bake

• 1 small to medium onion, chopped
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can chili beans in sauce, don’t drain
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 packet (or 2-3 T.)  taco seasoning, chili seasoning, fajita seasoning…anything you want to use to suit your tastes and what you have on hand.

Fry up the ground beef with onion (you can also add green pepper if you wish) til browned.  Add beans, salsa and seasoning mix and simmer for 5 minutes or so.  Pour into a greased 9x9 pan.

Make your favorite corn bread.  (Use a mix like Jiffy, or, as I prefer, make your favorite homemade cornbread recipe.  Here’s what I used (I LOVE this cornbread!)

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2-4 T. sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 c. milk
• 1/4 cup cooking oil or melted shortening

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the , cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Make a well in the center of the dry mixture; set aside. 

In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and cooking oil/shortening.  Add egg mixture all at once, and stir til moistened.  (To make cornbread, pour batter into reased 9 x 9 inch pan and bake at 425* for 20-25 minutes or til a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean)

To finish the chili cornbread bake, just pour the cornbread mixture over the top of the chili.  Bake at 425, for 20-25 minutes, or until the cornbread is lightly golden brown.  Sprinkle with cheese and cover for a few minutes til the cheese is melted.  Garnish with optional chopped scallions, tomatoes, and sour cream (especially if you made it as HOT as I did!)

Ohhhh, this is yummy!

Homemade Irish Cream

My hubby makes this YUMMY beverage for me sometimes.  It is smooth, and creamy, and just absolutely hits the spot.  It nicely warms you, from the inside!  It is a hit with all we share it with!

Homemade Irish Crème

• 2 Cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 1/3 cups  Black Velvet
• 1 pint half and half
• 2 Tablespoon Chocolate Syrup
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/8 tsp coconut extract (optional)

Mix it all in a pitcher and stir well.  This is best if you let it sit overnight, to let the coffee dissolve.  But…most times we can’t wait.  It’s still good!

This year, this bottle was a gift from me to a friend.  It was full of this Irish Crème.  I told her that it was a conditional gift.  She could have it on the condition that she gave it back when it was empty for a refill.  She agreed, and this is the first refill! 

YUM!

SNOW DAY!! (and my Mom’s Bread Pudding)

I said earlier as my status on facebook…the ONLY good thing about snow is the occasional snow day.  And today was one!  We did get a good bunch of snow, starting in the wee hours of the morning.  Poor Rachel was up, dressed and at the middle school in the vehicle that would shuttle her to the High School for an early morning practice, when the bus driver got the call that their was no school.  She came home and promptly went back to bed. 
Ethan got up at 6 am, to do some homework that he left in the vehicle when I went to a friend’s house last night.  He was sitting on his bead working on homework at 6:30 when I went in and let him know there was no school.  He put his homework away and came out on the couch to watch tv…and fell asleep for a few more hours.
I just stayed in bed.  I LOVE being able to do that!  Ron stayed up for a bit and then he slept a bit more, too.  What a great way to start a weekend!
Ethan is at a friend’s house, but before he left, I had him shovel a little bit.  He did a good job, but didn’t come close to getting it all done.  There was a BUNCH of snow!

Rachel woke up and wanted to make something.  She asked about bread pudding, and I said… “I have my mom’s recipe”.   She went through my recipe box and found it, which really made me laugh, because when I was a kid and we had a snow day…the first thing I did was went through my mom’s recipe box, looking for something to make that day!  Like mother, like daughter!

So, I taught her how to make my mom’s bread pudding.  It is SOOO yummy, and such a comfort food for me.  I have my mom’s original recipe…in her handwriting, even!

It’s a well used recipe, isn’t it?  It was one of the things that my mom made quite often. 

So, first I taught Rachel how to scaled milk, as she has never done that step before.  If you are unsure of what it means, there is a good “how to” on this page.  But it is EASY, and don’t let it scare you away!

She made toast, and buttered it.

Then she tore it up into little pieces and put it in the greased casserole dish. 

When the milk was scalded, we mixed the eggs, sugar and salt.  We added a little of the scalded milk into the eggs, and kept stirring while adding the rest of the hot milk.  Then, Rachel poured the milk over the toast.

And then (I didn’t take a picture of this) Rachel sprinkled cinnamon sugar over the top of it all.  And then we baked it.  The recipe says for 25 minutes, but I had to go closer to 35 or maybe even 40 minutes today. 

Oh.  Yum!  YUM!  YUMMY!!!

Wish you could have had a bite!

Chicken and Broccoli Mac and Cheese

I hit upon a winner for dinner tonight!  OOOH…this was sooo yummy, and VERY easy.  I just made a basic  homemade mac and cheese, and added precooked chicken and some broccoli and baked it.  MMMMM….we ate way too much!

I was making enough for 4 of us plus leftovers.  So here is what I used. (I make homemade mac and cheese often enough that I don’t really use a recipe.  If you have a favorite recipe that you follow, use that.  If you don’t…here’s my basic amounts (more or less, LOL)

• 2 HUGE chicken breasts (cooked and cubed)
• 1/2 or 3/4 of a large package of frozen broccoli (under cooked a little.  Cook just long enough so that it isn’t frozen any longer)
• 4 cups of uncooked macaroni (bow tie or rotini or other shaped pasta would be good, too)
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1/4 cup or so of milk (add more to make it runnier if you need to)
• 1/3 block of Velveeta-more or less (I used Fareway brand)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar—more or less (I used taco cheese because it is what I had tonight.) 
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I made homemade, and I added some onion powder and garlic powder.)

Boil the noodles and drain.  Chunk up the Velveeta type cheese and butter and stir til it is all melty.  Add the milk and keep stirring.  (If it doesn’t melt very quickly, you can stir it over a low/medium burner.  I usually don’t need to do this, though).  Then stir in 1 to 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese (if I don’t have it, I sometimes leave this out.  Just depends on how cheesy you like it.  We like it best when it is REALLY cheesy)

Add the chicken (when I cooked mine, I added some pepper and garlic.  You can keep your chicken plain or spice it up with whatever flavors you like)  and broccoli.  Stir it up really well, and then pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Sprinkle with the rest of the shredded cheese (if using), and then toss some bread crumbs on top (for a crispy topping….you can leave this part off, too, if you want…but I can’t imagine why you’d want to.)

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, or til the bread crumbs are nice and toasty brown and crunchy on top. 

Ethan took one bite and said “mmmmmmmmmm……..”  And that’s all I heard from him for the next 10 minutes or so.

Snow Day Activities

We had our first snow day of the school year today.  Everyone (well, everyone but Cameron, who had a Calculus final at 8:00 am!) enjoyed sleeping in this morning.

Rachel decided to bake Grandma’s Gingerbread cookies.  At least that’s what we call them around here!

She mixed:

• 2 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. shortening

until smooth and creamy.  Then she added:

• 1 egg

and blended a bit more. 

We kind of alternated the next few ingredients, adding a little liquid and a little dry ingredients.

• 1 c. sour milk (1 T. vinegar and then add milk to = 1 cup) with 2 T. baking soda
• 1 pint dark molasses
• flour (enough to make a rollable consistency (up to 10 cups)
• spices
• 1 1/2 t. anis seed
• 1/2 t. cardamom
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 t. cloves

Mix it all well and then…

plop the dough on a well floured surface and then…

roll it, roll it, roll it all out and then…

cut out the various shapes that you like.

and then put the m on the pan and bake them!

Bake them in a 350 oven for 10-12 minutes, just til firm.  We don’t like them crispy!

While they are cooling, make the icing:

• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 2 T. Crisco
• 1-2 t. lemon juice
• water to desired concistency

Mix with mixer til it is fairly thick but spreadable.

Then, decorate!  (this is one version of how we decorate.  Next batch we are doing it the old way…with thin powdered sugar and milk icing and painting it on with a paintbrush!)

I LOVE baking with my daughter!  We just have fun and laugh a lot!  And make fun and funky and pretty cookies to share with students at Luther College Bible Study.

While we were working, we listened to Christian music radio station with lots of fun songs we love and Christmas tunes.

While WE worked, others….didn’t.

This was constructed during yesterday’s snowed in period

Cameron played Perfect World on dad’s laptop.

And Ethan played Perfect World on the Desktop computer.

Poor Ronnie was out taking his turn at shoveling snow!

What a nice December day!

Birthday Treat

Rachel made me a YUMMY fruit pizza for my birthday treat yesterday.  Absolutely, perfectly delicious!

She used our favorite sugar cookie recipe (we only had a LITTLE issue with the dough spreading over the edge of the pan and spilling over in the oven…and it was MY fault, not hers.  I told her to roll it all the way to the edge.  Now I know better for next time!)

Then she blended

• 1 8 oz pkg. softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

until it was smooth and creamy.  After the cookie/pizza was cooled, she arranged the apple slices on top.  She sprinkled pecans on half.  Other options would be to sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon, and/or drizzle with warm caramel ice cream topping.

What a WONDERFUL birthday treat!  And the slice (or two) that I had today were JUST as YUMMY!

Thanks, Rachel!

Teaching moments…

I spent a delightful afternoon with my daughter!  She’s a lovely girl, inside and out, and I had SO much fun with her today, teaching her how to make cinnamon rolls.  I have yet to find a bad recipe from the Pioneer Woman,  so I chose her AMAZING cinnamon roll recipe to use to start Rachel on.

Here are the results.  Please don’t drool on your computer while you look at these pictures.  Drool is kinda nasty to clean off of a keyboard.

 

yeah…there are four pans of them in this picture.  That’s just because the OTHER two pans are still in the oven.  Did I mention that PW’s AMAZING cinnamon roll recipe makes SIX or SEVEN pans of cinnamon rolls?? 

Yum!!!  I can’t WAIT for breakfast! 

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