Sausage and Italian bread stuffed peppers

Good Day everyone!

I just read a beautiful article about love.  It touched me very much especially today because even though I have had no desire to bake or cook most recently my hubby was a little bit under the weather because of his recent oral surgery. 

A small gesture of kindness to those who we love is good for the soul. 

 Soft healthy meals.  Baked oatmeal today! French toast yesterday.

Small kind gestures speak mountains about what love is.

In a few days some pasta with either butter and Italian cheese or I’ll run a light amount of sauce to the pasta. Soups for sure.

Being in today playing nurse inspired me to do a little cooking for me as well.  I have lots of ingredients that I should be using and have been in such a slump so today's a good day to make a few meals to freeze.

So we both win!  I’m staying in so I’ll keep busy while he sleeps.

French toast yesterday, baked oatmeal today and this for me because playing nurse makes me hungry!

I don’t have an exact recipe for today’s meal on hand but do have one on the blog.  If you would like the recipe link let me know.  

Stuffed peppers.  Make them anyway you might enjoy them.

Mom's Italian meatless bread stuffing is the best.

 Check out my Italian bread stuffed peppers.  They are delicious!

 My grandfather on my mom's side of the family was from Naples, Italy and my grandmother was from Yugoslavia or now as it's referred to as Croatia. So combining flavors and favorites I am sure are how her recipes were created.  She passed these recipes on to her children of which my Mom was the 4 child out of 7 children.  Three daughters and 4 sons.

Today's version I didn't use a special recipe just ingredients I knew were in the stuffing my mom would use for her stuffed green peppers. Personal preference today would be red peppers.  Sweeter and not bitter as a lot of green peppers seem to be today.

I used an Italian bread stuffing for the larger pepper.  Several slices of Italian bread broken.  One egg beaten, butter and onion sauté and added to the bread, salt, pepper parsley and lots of Parmesan grated cheese .  Ps.  I ran low on Pecorino Romano so Parmesan will do.  I added Milk to hold all together.  The consistency should be workable and easy to spoon into the peppers.

 NOTE:  I separated the bread stuffing into two small bowls and added cooked Italian sausage to one of the bowls.(I used already cooked ground sweet sausage)

After rinsing and drying the peppers I removed all seeds out of the large and small peppers   

I filled the largest pepper with the yummy bread stuffing.

I used 15 oz. can Kirkland brand organic sauce to which I added crushed garlic and some dried basil.

Place some the seasoned sauce in your casserole dish, then place

Your  stuffed peppers. Add the remainder of sauce on top and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Top with lots of grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese.

 Cover and bake at  350 degrees for 60 minutes. 

Yes I tasted them both and they both are delicious.  My favorite is the meatless one but I’ll eat them all as well as my family.

Enjoy!

 Moms bread stuffing recipe and I added some hot Italian sausage to part of it.

From my kitchen to yours,

 

 

Taco casserole

I get bored very easily with the same recipes made the same way using the same pan so today I'm making my taco casserole in a bundt pan. It's a first try using this type pan.

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning
4 oz. softened cream cheese
1 cup light sour cream
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 cup medium salsa or more(save 1/2 to top casserole after baking)
I to 2 pkg. soft tacos (small) 10 in package
Bundt pan

Cook beef until browned. Drain any grease and add 1 package taco seasoning and Cook  according to directions on package.  Add 1/2 cup salsa to beef.  Set aside.

Soft taco casserole made in a bundt pan.

Directions:

Spray bundt pan generously with cooking spray.  Layer (4) 10 small soft tacos first then cooked seasoned taco meat, shredded cheddar cheese, soft tacos, cream cheese and sour cream mixture and so on.  I used 1 package small (10)soft tacos .  I think 1 1/2 packages would be fuller. Bake covered 30 minutes at 325 degrees.  My pan was a dark pan so if you are using a regular bundt pan without coating you probably could bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to set as is for 5 to 7 minutes.  Turn onto large round platter and top with salsa and cheese while warm.  Cut with a serrated knife and serve with a pie server or spatula.  Enjoy!


I made an iceberg lettuce salad to serve with it.

Extra salsa and sour cream too.

Slow cooker flank steak

IMO the difference between a slow cooker and a crock pot is very simple. You can saute or simmer your meat or vegetables first in a slow cooker. It comes in two sections. The cooking pot and the heating element or cradle. The cooking time is very similar to a crockpot and the results are almost if not the same.

10/31/17

1+ lb. flank steak cut in strips
1 shallot sliced thin or yellow onion
2 T chili powder
1 1/2 green or red bell pepper cut into strips
1/4 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
2 T lime juice
1 cup beef broth
1- 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained
Salt to taste
2 cups rice
Crispy fried onions(in a can) Optional

In a slow cooker brown sliced flank steak with shallots. Place on heating element and add bell pepper strips, garlic powder, oregano, salt and lime juice.  Add beef broth. Stir.  Cover and allow to cook for 4 to 6 hours on medium heat depending on degree of desired tenderness. Add drained and rinsed black beans 15 minutes before serving.

Spoon and Serve over rice. Top with some crispy fried onions.  Enjoy!

My Zinnia Garden 2020

A Very Happy Day to everyone.

If you enjoy flowers of any type and enjoy a very pleasant way to start your summer day.  Think Zinnias.  Easy to grow and so beautiful to wake up in the morning to these beautiful timeless beauties.

They are very easy to grow.  All you need is some healthy seeds and a little effort.  I use my zinnias as a backdrop to my shrubs as well as plant in containers.  

Here's what I do and you can too!

Whether your soil is healthy or not so healthy decide where you want to plant the seeds.  Wait until after May 31st.(around Memorial Day) or after so there is no possibility of frost or very cold soil temperatures.

My planting of my seeds is very simple and I will show in pictures what I do.

I first decide where I will enjoy them the most and I am lucky to have several windows I can look at them from inside and I can enjoy them everyday outside.

When you decide the location. I sprinkle a little basic garden(annual perennial fertilizer in the soil and rake it in.   Then get a garden tool or a large end of a screwdriver and make about a quarter of an inch indentation in the soil.

 Sprinkle your seeds in that indentation and cover the seeds LIGHTLY with good garden soil.  From that point water the area LIGHTLY (a fine mist) is the best for about a week or two or until you seeds the seedings start to surface.  Be patient!  They start to come through the ground pretty soon.  It all depends on sun and weather.

Once the seedings appear continue to water everyday unless you get enough rain then let them be.  From that point when I see them I fertilize about once a week with Miracle Gro until the plants are established.   Your garden of zinnias will grow faster than you think.  

Enjoy your garden and I hope 2021 will be your best Zinnia Garden ever.

Let me know how they grow in your garden.

P.s I also plant some in containers following the same instructions.

FYI:  You can start your seeds in early May if you would like but I have found it to be unnecessary once the ground is warm they grow quite quickly.

Happy Gardening from my garden to yours.

Sausage cream and Orecchiette soup

Hi and a very good day to everyone.

Hubby made himself a huge bowl and went to the store especially for crusty rolls.  I guess this will be on his favorite list of soup to make again.

My foodie friend Meredith Merriner made this soup and shared her recipe with me.  I made it to my liking.

 She used a few more spices than I did but my sausage had such wonderful flavor I felt it wasn’t needed. So yummy!

The below was my adaption of Meredith's version of this recipe.

1 lb. lean Italian loose sweet sausage

1 - 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1-32 oz. container beef broth

1- 14.5 can beef broth

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cup orecchiette pasta (cook pasta according to directions before adding to soup)

8  oz. cream cheese ( softened)

8 oz. sour cream 

2 cups fresh spinach ( I used frozen washed and pressed) it equaled I cup)

In a medium Dutch oven sauté sausage until lightly browned.  Add beef broth, and crushed tomatoes.  Allow to cook until the broth starts to come to a light boil. *** Note:Add cooked Orecchiette AFTER  you have whisked in cream cheese and sour cream and continue to cook at a slow boil. . Add spinach right before serving.

Here’s is Meredith’s recipe.

I tweaked the Tortellini-Spinach Soup and used ground sausage and Orecchiette for this dish...It smells and tastes amazing! I used 2lb browned ground sausage, 2 cartons of organic beef broth, Penzey’s garlic powder, pepper, pink Himalayan salt, Herbs deProvence from “The Strip,” 2-29 oz cans of crushed tomatoes, one container of sour cream, one block of cream cheese, a 5 oz bag of spinach leaves, and 2 cups of Orechetti pasta, also from “The Strip.”

Thank you Meredith (our foodie group friend).

Come join we love to have you be part of our Facebook group..

It’s called "We like to bake and cook group"!