Plenty of Peppers - Stuffed

It must be October in Northern California. We have had a string of days where the temperature was well above 90 degrees. So much for fall baking! A week or so ago when it was cooler I made stuffed peppers for dinner and just realized that I never posted the recipe or photos.

The red peppers were beautiful...large, meaty and very fresh. I bought them at the farm stand that was also selling the last of the strawberries, plus lots of melon, tomatoes, beans and squash. The yellow pepper came from a friend's CSA box. It was thinner skinned but delicious, too. The lamb is so local that its from sheep who kept our grass down early this spring, another gift from our great-hearted neighbors.

The filling started with sauteed onion, carrot and celery. To that I added both cooked brown rice and fresh corn, cut from the cob, plus some salty feta cheese. A robust flavor was added by using browned ground lamb, fresh rosemary, minced garlic, and dried thyme. I moistened the mixture with a little chicken broth I had in the fridge. It made a wonderful filling for the peppers, bringing out the peppers sweetness and warm flavors. I put the filling that wouldn't fit in the peppers into a greased baking dish and cooked it along with the peppers. It made an outstanding lunch for Sweetie the next day.

He could really use a satisfying lunch because this was just about the time that we had discovered the results of a small, long-term leak in one of our pipes. It has taken almost two weeks to do the repair, but on Friday I should be able to paint the new drywall. After that we can install the last of the new flooring and take a break from construction for a while.

Maybe we'll get cool weather to turn the leaves autumn colors. That's a wonderful time to take a ride in the country and check out all the gold and red and burgundy leaves. Of course what we really want is rain. Wishing for a very rainy winter, but I do hope you get to enjoy fall color if you live where there is some.

Lamb Stuffed Peppers
Serves 4

4 medium to large bell peppers (I like red and yellow and orange, but green is OK, too)
1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1-2 stalks celery, chopped
1 small carrot, sliced into thin coins
1 pound ground lamb, browned and drained
1 1/2 cups cooked and cooled brown rice
1 ear corn, steamed 5 minutes, then cooled; corn cut from cob
1/4 cup feta cheese, in small crumble
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
S & P
1/4 - 1/2 cup chicken broth
about 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

Wash the peppers and remove the stem end and the core, plus all the seeds. Cut in half. (I like to cut from the stem to the bottom, but some people like to cut through the middle and set the stem end as a bottom. Make sure that the halves are not tippy. Cut off a bit of the outside of the pepper if needed. Set peppers aside.

In a skillet, saute the onion, celery and carrot in the grapeseed oil. Cook, over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onion is transluscent, about 5 minutes. Turn mixture into a large bowl and add the cooked lamb, cooked rice, corn, feta, chopped rosemary, chopped garlic, and dried thyme. If desired, add salt and pepper to taste. Add enough chicken broth to moisten the mixture.

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment, or a silicon baking mat. Arrange the pepper halves on the pan. Stuff each half with the lamb mixture, mounding in the center. Sprinkle with a touch of cayenne pepper. If there is left over stuffing mixture, place in a greased small baking dish to bake along with the peppers.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes. Peppers will be softened and stuffing mixture will be hot and a little browned.

Serve at once. Refrigerate any leftovers, or baked leftover stuffing mixture.

Summer Salad Time

After a nice cool spring, we felt some heat today, so for dinner I decided to make a nice cool salad. There is nothing amazing about this salad...you have probably made one like it yourself on occasion, but i think it's a fine idea to write out the recipe so I have it the next time I want a good, easy, quick but delicious dinner salad. We had it with some fresh, juicy Silver Queen corn on the cob.

I'm not too crazy about summer hot weather, but I love the clean fresh flavors of summer foods! I used a combination of field greens salad mix and baby spinach for the greens. The warm chicken contrasts nicely with the chill, crips greens

Summer Supper Salad

serves 2

Big bowl of mixed salad greens - enough for two people

1/2 large yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cut in half, each half cut in wedges, then the wedges halved
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
garlic salt
balsamic pesto dressing (recipe below)

Toss the greens pepper slices and tomato wedges gently to mix. Set aside in fridge to stay cool.

In a large cast iron or non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon canola or olive oil.

If the chicken breasts are too thick to cook evenly, butterfly them to even out the thickness. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt.

Saute' the chicken breasts in the hot oil until lightly browned on one side, about 2-3 minutes, then turn the breasts and cover the pan. Lower the heat and cook for another 3 minutes. Check center to see if they are cooked. Cook another minute uncovered if necessary to fully cook. Slice the cooked chicken in bite sized pieced.

Toss the salad greens with the dressing. Arrange a large serving on each plate and top with the warm chicken, dividing the chicken evenly between the two plates. Serve at once.

Balsamic Pesto Dressing

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon prepared pesto

Place all ingredients in a jar and top with a tightly sealing lid (I use a pint canning jar and lid). Shake well to mix the ingredients. Let sit at least five minutes for flavors to meld. Shake vigorously right before pouring on salad. Can be made ahead. Will keep in refrigerator at least a week.

Delicious Light Dinner with Peppers

The last time I tried a Martha Stewart recipe, it was a disaster. That doesn’t stop me from looking at the recipes in her magazine Martha Stewart Living.

In the February issue I was inspired by a stuffed pepper recipe. I loved the Italian flavor given it by the oregano, feta cheese and garlic. Since I have long ago decided not to follow one of her recipes as written, I just ran with the Italian flavors idea.

I added freshly chopped Italian parsley. There was a half of a tomato in the fridge, so I chopped that up and threw it in the stuffing bowl. About a half cup of diced zucchini added some more green. Since I didn’t have any on hand, I omitted the scallions that she used. Last, I toasted some pine nuts to sprinkle on top once the peppers were baked.

This is a healthy meal and vegetarian. If you take out the feta cheese, it could also be vegan. Still has some protein from the beans and pasta combo. The great thing is that it goes together fairly quickly, if you don’t mind a little time spent chopping. It smells wonderful before it is cooked and even better once cooked.

It is really pretty, too, with the colored peppers, red from the tomatoes, green from the zucchini and parsley, and pale beige from the beans. You can make this with whatever color bell pepper you have on hand. I suspect that replacing the couscous with cooked rice would taste great, too.

The key thing is to have fresh ingredients because you really taste them. I served them with some early asparagus, simply steamed. It made a nice, warm, easy meal for after work today.

Speaking of work, now that we are getting longer days, it is still a bit light when I leave. Today we had some very welcome rain overnight and it kept raining until early afternoon. As I was driving home I saw that there was ground fog from the moist earth and behind it a sunset.

In this photo that combination really sets off the dark gnarly bare old apple tree limbs.

This is a good dinner for an entry in Meeta's great Monthly Mingles event, this month highlighting Healthy Family Meals.

Italian Medley Stuffed Peppers

Inspired by a recipe in Marth Stewart's Living magazine Feb '09

4 large bell peppers, any color
1 can (15 oz.) cannelli beans, drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley
1/2 large tomato diced
1/2 cup diced fresh zucchini
1/3 cup couscous
1 cup (4 oz.)feta, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

1 cup water

Slice off the tops of the peppers. Remove the seeds and ribs. If needed, slice off some of the bottom of the peppers so they sit flat. Chop the pepper part of the tops, discarding the stems. Put that into a bowl.

To the bowl add the beans, garlic, oregano, parsley, tomato, zucchini, couscous, feta and salt and pepper. Stir to blend thoroughly. Stuff this mixture into the pepper shells.

Place stuffed peppers in a baking dish. Add 1 cup water. Cover tightly, using foil if the baking dish doesn't have a tight cover.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Serve garnished with 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts if desired.