Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers

Hi all! To my regular readers and follower sorry for the long absence from posting. 

Life has gotten a bit busy and my wallet a bit empty. With out further ado I bring you my next recipe, baby stuffed bell peppers. I made a "south west" style stuffed bell peppers.

  Baby bell pepper are a great alternative for the larger bell peppers if you like a more mild taste and/or have a sensitive stomach. I know me personally I cook for one and two on occasion. The small size of the baby bells works as a great small portion or as an appetizer. 

  I will be posting more stuffed pepper recipes in the near future as I test them and perfect the flavors I want.

Stuffed peppers is a great way to look fancy with out having to put in a ton of work. The possibilities are endless as far as combos and ingredients for them. Another great thing is you can make as much or as little of the filing as you need for the amount of peppers you are stuffing. I will give you around about amounts for the stuffing and you can make more or less from that. 

Southwest stuffed baby bell peppers:

• Baby bell peppers (I used a pack of 4, red,yellow and orange)
• 20oz ground turkey (I use 91% lean)
• 1 Taco seasoning packet
• 1-2 tablespoons taco sauce (optional)
• 1/4 cup brown or white rice (cooked)
• 1/4 cup frozen roasted corn
• 1/4 cup Canned black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1/4 cup colby jack or cheddar
• 1/4 cup pepperjack 

*Pre-Heat oven to 400*

- Washed dry baby bell peppers.

Cut tops off and clean out seeds and membrane.

- Heat a large frying pan to medium high heat. Brown the ground turkey, bring pan down to medium heat.

Add 1/4 cup of water and taco seasoning packet as well as your favorite taco sauce or hot sauce. cover and let simmer for about 3-5 minutes until fully cooked.

-In a mixing bowl combine corn, rice, beans, cheese, and ground turkey. Mix well.

- use a muffin pan or ramekins to hold peppers upright.

 

- Stuff each pepper to the top and add a bit of shredded cheese to the top.

-Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is golden brown and bubbling.

Serve with tortillas or tortilla chips or just one their own.

Hope you have enjoyed. and until next time, play with your food, get creative and enjoy.

Cheers,

 Angel

Oven roasted veggies

Roasted Vegetables perfect for summer time diners 

 Today I would like to bring you a super simple and healthy recipe my mom taught me.

This recipe is awesome for its versatility factor, you can use what ever veggies you want.

 These roasted veggies are great by themselves, as a side dish or mixed into pasta tossed with olive oil and parmesan. This dish looks fancy and will impress your guests.

 Summer time is great for this dish due to the availability of some wonderful squashes and other vegetables that grow well this time of year. For my mix I chose a squash that is only available seasonally for the most part, Sunburst squash. To accompany this wonderful squash I also chose zucchini, asparagus, carrots and yukon gold potatoes. As always I encourage you to come up with your own mixtures to fit your taste.

 Try adding cherry tomatoes, yellow squash, broccoli, cauliflower and what ever else your heart desires.

Fun tip:

Once you have washed your asparagus, gently bend them holding near the top and at the bottom; A small part should easily break off, This will get rid of a part that would have a chewy and fibrous texture.

Ingredients:

• 2 large carrots, peeled
• 2 medium zucchini
• 3 yukon gold potatoes
• 1 sunburst squash
• 7-8 Asparagus stalks
• 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons Onion powder
• 3 teaspoons Original Ms. Dash
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley

Step 1:

Pre-heat oven to 375*

Wash your veggies and peel your carrots 

Dice into even sized pieces

Step 2:

In a large mixing bowl add in your cut vegetables.

Add in olive oil one tablespoon at a time until the vegetables look evenly coated.

Add in seasonings to hearts desire, mix well.

Step 3:

Line a baking sheet with foil.

 make an even layer of vegetables on the pan. ( you may need more than one pan)

Step 4:

Cook Vegetables for about 30-40 minutes. flip vegetables halfway through for an even roast.

Step 5:

 Enjoy these great veggies! They reheat great and go wonderfully with many dishes.

Black rice with Roasted vegetables topped with shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano

Thank you as always for reading. If you have any suggestions or would like to see a certain recipe, please let me know. 

 As always, Be creative, play with your food and enjoy!

 Cheers,

 Angel 

Not your typical taco

Plum sauce chicken tacos with an apple,celery and bell pepper slaw

This may sound like an odd combo but the flavors work great together and make for an easy  and interesting twist to your taco tuesdays. If you'd like a more low carb option this can also be turned into a lettuce wrap. The inspiration for this dish came from the need to use a bunch of random things in my fridge. Also I had some amazing lettuce wraps at a place called Yard House and wanted to come up with a version of my own.

I need to give credit where credit is due, my mom gave my the idea to use apple. My mom and I were talking healthy recipes the other day and I mentioned how I wanted to make a carrot apple slaw of some sort.  So a few days later when I mentioned making a chicken plum sauce wrap, but was struggling to figure out the other components she brought up making the carrot apple slaw.

The recipe I will be sharing with you today is my second try of making this dish. I made a few tweaks to the way I cook the chicken as well as the slaw. 

Plum Chicken:

*every stove is different so please please please check your chicken and make sure it is fully cooked!

Ingredients:

• 1-2 boneless skinless chicken breast ( depends on how much you want to make)
• 3 tablespoons of plum sauce ( more or less to taste)
• 3-4 cloves of minced garlic

- Cut chicken breast into 1/2 inch wide strips. Heat a frying pan to medium high heat and grease pan with a bit of olive oil. Lay pieces of chicken breast in pan and let sear for about 1 minute on each side to create a golden crust. Turn down to medium heat and cover with lid. Let chicken cook for about 2 minutes, turn the pieces. Cover and let cook for another 2 minutes. Take chicken off heat and allow to rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes.

*See slaw recipe below

- Cut chicken into bite size chunks. In a frying pan roast your minced garlic with a small amount of olive oil over medium heat. Once your garlic is golden brown toss in the cubed up chicken. Add in the plum sauce and stir until coated. let cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  

Apple, celery and bell pepper slaw:

*ju·li·enne

ˌjo͞olēˈen/

verb

1. cut (food) into short, thin strips
2. .

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Fuji apple julienned 
• 1 celery stick julienned
• 1/4 yellow bell pepper julienned
• 1/2 lime juiced.

- While your chicken is resting chop your ingredients for the slaw.

 In a medium-small mixing bowl toss your apple, celery and bell pepper. squeeze the lime juice over the mix and toss until well coated.

  To put it all together I used a Wheat and black bean tortilla by Mission. put down my layer of chicken and topped with my slaw. On the side I made brown rice. This dish was simple, easy and fun to make for dinner. It brings a unique twist to a classic favorite. I hope you enjoy this recipe and I will have more fun unique recipes to come. 

As always, play with your food, experiment and enjoy.

Cheers,

   Angel

Cupcake madness

Fun with frosting!

 Today I bring you some inspiration to play with your food. Some times it turns out for the best and other times not so much, but no matter what you end up having a lot of fun. My eldest sister came for a visit from Texas to celebrate the 4th of July as well as my parents birthday. We thought it would be a fun idea to make some cupcakes for my parents birthdays, so we took 2 dozen cupcakes and made 8 different frostings.

 For starters we had a bit of a time crunch so we pulled a few cheat moves out of our sleeves.
I bought the un-frosted cupcakes from my work and 3 cans of pre-made cream cheese frosting.
 I will do the best job I can to give you the amounts I used for each frosting but like I mentioned before this is more for inspiration.  Each set of cupcake frosting we did was tailored to the type flavors my parents like. My mom loves lighter more delicate flavors and my dad likes richer more decedent flavors.

The first four:

The first frosting we made for my dad's cupcakes was a red wine frosting. I took a mini bottle of red wine and poured about half of it into a sauce pan to start warming it up. I then took about a tablespoon of warm wine and mixed it with about 2 teaspoons of flour in a separate cup to make a roux. I then poured my roux in with the rest of the wine in the sauce pan. Cook the wine string frequently until it has a thicker consistency. Take the wine off the heat and set it aside to let it cool.
Once it has cooled mix it with about 3/4 cup of cream cheese frosting. Let the frosting rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until it has set. Add more or less wine to fit your personal taste.
This frosting was on a vanilla cupcake.

Next up is a peanut-butter frosting with an everything pretzel as a garnish.
 This frosting was as easy a combining the cream cheese frosting and some peanut-butter until it tasted just right. We then piped it on a chocolate cupcake.

This next one is a my take on dirt and worms. I took about 4 oreos and crushed them up cream and all. I mixed the crushed cookies in with the frosting and spooned it on top of a red velvet cupcake. then took more cookies and crushed them to create the "dirt" for the top. I also added mini chocolate chips and a gummy worm.

This next one was probably my favorite of the cupcakes we made for my dad. This is a salted caramel frosting with a caramel drizzle and brown sugar candied bacon. For the frosting base I used canned pre-made caramel, You can normally find this near the condensed milk. I used almost equal parts caramel and frosting for a rich flavor, but add as much or as little caramel to suit your taste. I then mixed in a few pinches of french sea salt to my frosting. for the drizzle of caramel I put some of my remaining canned caramel into a small sauce pan and heated it up until it was slightly more liquified.
Now for that candied bacon! Grab a few pieces of platter bacon or regular what ever you have on hand. crust it with brown sugar on both sides and shake off the loose sugar. place on a baking sheet lined with foil and place a small wire rack on the baking sheet. bake at 375* until the sugar starts to caramelize and the bacon starts to crisp. let cool and break into small pieces.  

 

Round two:

The lovely cupcake with the Butterfly in it is a Butter rum and honey frosted cupcake on red velvet garnished with honey comb candy. This frosting is as simple as a drop or two of butter rum flavoring and a tablespoon or two of honey mixed into you base frosting.

This is my seashore cupcake, a vanilla cupcake with a spice frosting topped with crushed cinnamon graham crackers, edible pearls and a chocolate seashell. This frosting has dark brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spice the frosting up as much or as little as you'd like.

This was my favorite from the second set of cupcake we made. This is a vanilla cupcake with lemon frosting topped with edible pearls and mini sugar roses. To make the frosting I took the cream cheese frosting and mixed it with fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste. then I added an edible yellow shimmer powder until I had the lovely light golden yellow color I wanted. The edible shimmer colors are easy to find at your local craft store in the cake decorating section.

This last one is a Blackberry jam frosting on a chocolate cupcake. I combine blackberry jam with my cream cheese frosting base until I had a flavor I wanted. Let this sit in the fridge until it sets. This one is garnished with edible sugar flowers.

I hope you found some inspiration from my cupcakes and I encourage everyone to experiment and play around with new ideas. You don't always have to make everything from scratch to have it look and taste impressive. Even if your frosting doesn't turn out I can say that it is always fun to play with your food.



   Until next time,
Angel.

Fun with veggies

Roasted sweet potatoes and Zucchini parmesan

 Today I wanted to share two veggie recipes. The first being a Roasted sweet potato, the second being a zucchini parmesan. Veggies can be the blah part of the meal, the classic "Billy eat your peas or you don't get dessert!". I am here today to show ways to make your veggies pop and be the star of the meal.

  

Eating healthy is a very important part of my life, so naturally I eat a lot of vegetables. This can be boring if you stick to the same serving of peas or green beans. I like to mix it up and do something great tasting and yet still fairly simple to make. One of my favorite ways to do this is by making oven roasted sweet potatoes.

 Meal prep is a weekly task for me so I like to lean toward something that is easy and quick to make but has a taste I wont dread eating everyday for lunch. Normally my lunched consist of brown rice, ground turkey or chicken breast and a veggie of some sort. Roasted sweet potatoes have fast become one of my favorites to pack. 

Savory roasted sweet potatoes:

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Medium to large sweet potatoes (the orange ones also known as yams)
• 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (enough to lightly coat the potatoes)
• pepper to taste
• paprika to taste

*Preheat oven to 350*

*this step is slightly optional depending on if you like the skin of the potato*

 -Wash and peel potatoes, cut away any discolored spots.

 -Cube up into approximately 1 inch cubes, put in large mixing bowl.

pour in olive oil, just enough to lightly coat the potatoes. stir potatoes coating them with the olive oil and add in the pepper and paprika to your personal liking. make sure everything is well mixed and evenly coated.

- Pour onto a baking sheet in one layer.

-Bake for 20-30 minutes or until fork tender.

This recipe is super simple to make and can be mixed up just by playing with your spice mix!

 Try with ground nutmeg, cinnamon and a little ground ginger to make a slightly sweeter version.

Zucchini parmesan:

Next up Zucchini parmesan, a twist on the classic eggplant parmesan. Personally I am a huge fan of zucchini, so I find myself wanting to use this wonderful squash in new ways. I just happened to have some bread crumbs in the cabinet and thought to myself... why not? So one night before the gym I whipped up a little gourmand meal for myself.

*Preheat oven to 375*

Ingredients:

• 2 large Zucchini
• 1/2-3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 cups bread crumbs (I used whole wheat panko)
• dried parsley
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder (seasoning is always to personal taste, add more or less to fir what you like)
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• paprika
• 1/4 cup shredded or grated parmesan (I used Parmigiano-reggiano)

- cut the zucchini into "zucchini steaks" basically a center cut from the zucchini.

 I save the rest and freeze it to make stir fry with another day.

- I a dish large enough to fit your zucchini steaks in, mix together the flour, pepper, salt and 1 teaspoon garlic powder. in a separate dish pour in the milk. in a third dish mix together the bread crumbs, dried parsley, onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 cup parmesan.

- take each piece and coat it with the flour making sure both sides get a nice even light coat.

next put each piece in the milk and wet both sides. lastly, crust the pieces with the bread crumb mixture, coat well. 

- place on greased baking sheet. use foil as well for easy clean up.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until desired crispiness. 

I made pasta, layered my zucchini and put a roasted tomato and garlic pasta sauce then topped it with some fresh shredded Parmigiano-reggiano.

A wonderfully simple meal that looks impressive and tastes great!

Thank you as always for stopping by!

Coming up next will be fun with frosting, I will share some adventures in making some unique frosting's as well as a recipe of my very own that I created.

Cheers,

Angel

Simply sweet

Short but Sweet, quick and easy treats.

Today I wanted to share two of my favorite easy to make desserts. I'm not much of a baker so when it comes to making dessert I like to keep it as simple as possible. These wonderfully simple spreads are a great appetizer to take to parties as well as to have for dessert or a sweet treat any time.

 The first recipe I will be sharing is one I made for a project I was working on for a program called leadership nugget. Every year my work sends 25 people through Leadership Nugget to grow as a leader in the company as well as to work on projects. My Final Project was called "Cheese specialist favorites" which was a project where I built a catalog of recipes all built around cheese. This being said I set off on my adventure of creating and remaking recipes that highlighted cheese. I had to bring a full set of recipes from appetizers to desserts. It was easy coming up with all the savory, but how to make a cheese recipe that is sweet? The answer came in a small tub labeled Mascarpone.
  In simple terms it is similar to cream cheese and is most used for making tiramisu.

 *A friendly warning, This dip was nicknamed Cheese crack when I tested it among my classmates

Angel's Heavenly Fruit Dip:

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces Mascarpone ( I used Vermont butter and cheese co. mascarpone) 
• 7 ounces Marshmallow fluff 
• 1/2-1 teaspoons ground cinnamon ( use more or less depending on your taste)

1.) In a mixing bowl combine mascarpone and marshmallow fluff, whisk until smooth.

Add cinnamon until well blended.

 

This pairs great with fresh fruit, ginger snaps, pretzels and of course a glass of bubbly.

I also made dessert cups with a chocolate mousse in the bottom of a chocolate shell, then layered the fruit dip and topped it with fresh berries and chocolate caviar. 

Alright, now onto the Second recipe. This Idea came from my want to trick my eldest sister into eating goat cheese. My eldest sister is one of the pickiest eaters I know, so to introduce her to goat cheese I decided to sweeten it up a bit. 

 Honey Vanilla Goat cheese spread:

 Ingredients:

• 5 ounces plain Chevre
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

1.) Let chevre come to room temperature to make mixing easier.

In a mixing bowl add honey and vanilla, mix well.

 

2.) Serve immediately or form into a log and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate over night.

 If you want to add a little something extra, try adding mini semi-sweet chocolate chips mixed in or on top.

 Serve this with everything from flat fortune cookies, graham crackers, apple slices or what ever your heart desires. Everyone at the party I served this to loved it including my sister, she is now an avid goat cheese lover. So try this with any goat cheese skeptics in your life who you'd like to convert. 

  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more fun recipes... that will probably include cheese. 

  ~Angel

Mac n' cheese if you please

                               Baked Mac 'n cheese

Mac 'n cheese is not only a classic dish but also one of my absolute favorite things to make and eat. This delicious dish has endless possibilities as far as flavor is concerned. As a cheese monger I have access to hundreds of cheeses and the opportunity to hear what people are making. The usual 3-4 cheese macs are what I get to play with and help people create. Everything from the more complex including ingredients like prosciutto, pancetta, lamb, etc. As well as simple 1-2 cheese combos with the usual suspects like cheddar and gruyere. How ever, I decided to challenge myself to making a healthier mac n' cheese that didn't sacrifice any flavor. 

  The first place to start was finding a great cheese that would offer a lot of flavor and also not be completely terrible for you. I decided upon an Irish cheddar called "Oscar Wilde". Irish cheddar's tend to be sharp, nutty and a bit tangy in flavor with a well rounded amount of salt to them. If you can't find Oscar Wilde cheddar a more commonly found irish cheddar is Kerrygold Dubliner or Vintage Dubliner. 

 Now, On to the sauce! How to create a rich creamy sauce that wont add to your waist line?

  It starts with a basic sauce I learned how to make growing up called a Béchamel. Truly a simple sauce to make, it contains a basic 3 ingredients: Milk, butter and flour. To create a cheese sauce from this is turns into what is known as a Mornay sauce with the simple change of adding the cheese. Your normal mac n cheese typically calls for heavy cream to give that rich creamy flavor and texture. Mornay sauce does a great job of supplying both those but with the option of using something healthier than heavy cream. In my recipe I used low fat milk and whole wheat flour to help the healthy.

 Lastly I wanted to do a bit healthier noodle and bread crumb topping to round out my all around healthier version. I found a veggie based pasta at the store to replace the normal elbow noodles. To top it all off I found a whole wheat panko bread crumb that I mixed with a bit of cheese to help get that crispy crust.

 I will put it out there that I am in no way saying this is so healthy that you can eat this every day, though it is a great alternative to other recipes. This also is not the healthiest one out there, but I am a foodie and sacrificing all flavor is out of the question just to kick those few extra calories out of a recipe. This little note is just to cover me from angry comments ;) 

Now for the recipe!

Baked Mac N Cheese with a healthy twist:

Ingredients: 

• 12oz Vegetable Farfalle (or other shaped Veggie pasta)
• 1 cup low fat milk
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (regular flour also works)
• pepper and salt to taste
• 10oz shredded cheese ( I used Oscar Wilde cheddar)

Topping:

• 3/4 cup whole wheat panko bread crumb
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan (I used Parmigiano-Reggiano freshly shredded)
• 2 tablespoons cheddar ( I had a bit left over from making the sauce)

~Preheat oven to 375 degrees

- Bring water to a boil and cook pasta for about 2 minutes less than the instructions on the box. You want a par-cooked pasta, the pasta will finish cooking in the oven. Drain pasta once done, toss with a teaspoon of olive oil to keep it from sticking. Place in large mixing bowl, set aside.

- Warm milk over low heat in a small sauce pan until it is just over room temperature, set aside. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat, then slowly whisk in the flour until blended. Heat the roux until it turns into a paste like consistency and slightly browns. 

-Slowly add in the milk until blended. Cook over medium heat continuously stirring.

Once the sauce has thickened to where it coats a spoon and you can draw a finger across the back of the spoon and leave a clear line.  Add salt and pepper, stir well.

Remove from the heat. Add cheese a handful at a time stirring constantly and incorporating each handful well. Stir until completely melted.  

-In a separate small mixing bowl combine the breadcrumbs and cheese to create the topping. 

-Pour sauce into mixing bowl with pasta. Stir until all the pasta has been coated with the sauce. If Available, scoop mixture into 5 medium ramekins that have been lightly greased.

If not use an 8x8 glass baking dish, also lightly greased. Sprinkle a light layer of the breadcrumb mixture over the top. Place ramekins on a baking sheet, bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until topping is crispy and sauce is bubbling. 

   

I hope you try and enjoy my mac n cheese recipe. I encourage you to experiment by trying new cheeses and adding some extra flavor. Try adding a bit of paprika for a smokey and slightly spicy kick, or some dried parsley for a little extra something.

  Until next time, cook, experiment and enjoy great food.

  Cheers,

 Angel