Stuffed Peppers and an Annoucement

I'm excited, so we'll go ahead with our annoucement first. Do you remember Andrew, my dear friend who shared his Friday Five? Of course you do! From now on, he's going to reguarly share snaps from his life on Ladder to the Stars . I'll still post here as well, and sometimes we'll work together on a post. Andrew is a creative, thoughtful, hilarious, and insightful person that most of you already know from non-Internet life. I know you'll all enjoy his DIYs, recipes, photos and reflections. Take it way, Andrew!~ D

I'm glad to be part of this with Danielle! Over the past few years, she and I have talked about doing something creative together. My posts on here will be the newest fruition. The last thing we worked on together involved a house, a dog, and 47 of our closest friends. We called it graduate school. Now my life involves an apartment, the neighbor's dog, and road trips to see friends. I call it the good life. My posts on Ladder to the Stars will capture bits of that good life. Thanks for having me. ~A

Now, to these stuffed peppers! D and I were on the phone earlier this week swapping stories from the day and we got to chatting about eating well and eating healthy. Two separate, but not exclusive, types of eating. The conversation turned to the classic simple stuffed pepper: both eating well and healthy.

Stuffed Peppers

Less a recipe and more an idea, these are wonderfully adaptable. We've typed it up below, using Andrew's method and Danielle's specific Italian-style filling idea. Below that, you'll find some other ideas that we think would be worth trying.

1 green bell pepper

2 chicken sausages, ground and fully cooked

1/2 cup broccoli, chopped

3-4 basil leaves, chiffonade

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 cup quinoa, fully cooked

Parmesan, shaved or grated

 

 

Heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or lightly oil it.

Take the top off the bell pepper and clean out the inside with a small knife. Set it, cut side up, on the baking sheet and roast for 10-15 minutes.

While the peppers roasts, mix the filling ingredients together. Everything held together well with this mix, but if your mixture seems too dry, you could try adding an egg or a mixture of 1 teaspoon flax meal and 1 tablespoon water. Once the pepper is done, remove from oven, add filling with a spoon (be sure to press down to fully stuff) and top with a bit of parmesan. 

 

Put back in oven, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes. This will really depend on you, I like my peppers a little blackened and really soft. Let cool a bit and enjoy! I had 1/2 the pepper for dinner and the other 1/2 for lunch and it was really filling!

 

Other filling ideas:

Black beans, brown rice, crushed red pepper and green chilies. Top with cool avocado or guacamole.

Salmon, capers, and parsley with a panko crust top. Maybe a dollop of a tarter or a dill sauce.

Chopped spinach, cooked couscous, lemon zest and garlic. Top with thinly sliced shallots.

Snow Day (a bit late)

A few weeks ago, we had a nice little snow day! I don't really like January, but this was a pretty lovely morning. No photos from the weekend, it was mostly spent recuperating from a hectic week. And now, back to the work week! But, tomorrow, there's a blog-related surprise. And I'm Jessie Spano-excited over it.

Winter Tartine

Tartine! Or, you know, an open faced sandwich. But isn't tartine a much nicer way to say it? I think so. These are also the only photos from the weekend, I can't resist June's yawning, sweet face in the afternoon light and these sandwiches, though ugly, need to shared!

Saturday was a beautiful, spring-like day. I spent it shopping, drinking wine outside and wearing sandals. And then Sunday came. Rain and temps in the mid-60s and falling left me feeling pretty curmudgeonly. So, for lunch, I threw these little guys together to share with A. I typed up some steps below, but it's too simple to really even call a recipe. Endless combinations are possible, and it kept us full right through dinnertime. So we drank wine instead of eating, and it was the best choice I made all weekend.

We used:
Sourdough bread -- If you're in Jackson, Rainbow's sourdough is delicious!
Herbed goat cheese -- I just take plain goat cheese and whip in fresh basil, parsley, tarragon and thyme. You can buy it pre-mixed or use whatever you like most.
A carmelized mix of onion, red peppers and mushrooms -- let the onions and peppers cook down first, on medium heat in < 1 tablespoon oil. Add in mushrooms and saute it all on medium for 10 minutes.
Toast the bread while the mushroom mix finishes, spread the bread with goat cheese and top with the mushrooms. I finely chopped some basil and sprinkled it across the top. Done and done.

Blues and Biscuits

biscuits and honey

Well, we're only a few days in but I'm already feeling some January blues. Post-family and friend fun, back to work (although, I always feel grateful for a job I love doing!), the tree is gone. I also always try to take care of my annual doctor visits in January, which is not the best way to ward off those blues. Later on I'll post a new Favorites list. For now, can we take it easy? Can we talk biscuits? How about if I show you a cute snap of Noahman? Yes? Alright! You guys are the best.

cutest

When Noah stays with us over a weekend, we like to wake up with him on Saturdays and do a little easy cooking! Anything dough based is good, or something that requires some stirring. He also likes to watch A flip omelets and play with the Kitchen Aid. I'd made these biscuits a few times before and thought they'd be a nice option for playing around when he stayed with us one Saturday in December.

dough, mid-rolling

Yogurt Biscuits  

adapted from two favorite cookbooks here and here

You could really use whatever flour you have around, but I like to include at least some whole wheat flour. Made with white flour only they are really soft and sort of like buttermilk biscuits. This flour combo below is my most common because we tend to buy them in bulk. Cut into circles if you prefer, I just use squares to avoid wasting dough. I put some additions to the notes below the recipe if you want to branch out into cheese or herb biscuits. These guys are good for breakfast or dinner and the dough will freeze well uncooked. Just leave at room temp for 45 mins before cooking.

 1 1/2 cups spelt flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

1 1/3 cups yogurt (I like Greek and we've always got it around. You could use plain if you like)

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet (I just use spray oil, you can butter it or whatever you like).

2) Combine the dry ingredients and mix well. Cut butter into dry mix using a pastry cutter, a fork, two knives or your hands. It should feel coarse with small, visible bits of butter mixed throughout. I think this step can stress people out if they aren't used to flaky doughs. Don't worry over it, just cut it in a few minutes and then move on. The layering later one will keep things flaky.

3) Stir in the yogurt just until combined. Don't worry it parts of the dough are dry.

4) Combine into a ball and place on a pastry mat, floured counter or cutting board.

5) Knead five times and press into a square about an inch thick. 

6) Fold it three times on top of itself, rotate and roll or press into a square again. Fold again, rotate and roll into another square. This last square should be about 1/2 an inch thick. Again, don't worry about these steps. It might sound a little complicated but it goes fast and it's pretty simple!

7) Cut into squares or circles and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are a light gold and the bottoms are dark golden. Serve hot!

 Additions:

-stir in 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup roasted red peppers with the yogurt

-add a handful of chopped herbs and lemon zest to the dry mix

-roll the dough much thinner, cut into triangles, wrap small pieces of dark chocolate inside and bake for 5-8 minutes 

2012 Snaps

 

Happy 2013, everyone!