Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

I think I've mentioned before that I grew up in a household where my mother was home every night and had dinner on the table for the family promptly when dad got home from work. Usually that dinner consisted of good ol' budget-friendly American classics and- at the time, unfortunately for me- that included stuffed peppers.

I hated those nights!

Why, you ask? Well, when my mother made stuffed peppers, it was always the same recipe: green peppers stuffed with a mixture of ground beef and white rice, baked in/topped with tomato sauce. First of all, I despise green peppers. It's only been in recent years that I've been able to use them in my own recipes, mainly as a base flavor component rather than as a main ingredient. Pretty much, when I cook with bell peppers I prefer to use the sweeter and more mellow red, yellow, and orange ones as opposed to the sharper green ones. Also, I'm not a big fan of white rice, generally preferring to use brown rice. The ground beef I could've lived with... if it hadn't been so damn greasy. *shudder* And what could I possibly find objectionable about tomato sauce? Eh. It was always straight up tomato sauce, no spices or herbs added. Actually, come to think of it, I'm fairly certain salt and pepper were the ONLY seasoning added to the entire dish. Really, can you blame me for not being a fan?

So don't think I don't see the irony in the fact that stuffed peppers make a fairly regular appearance on my dinner table some 25 years later (albeit not quite as often as back in the day)... but rest assured that I enjoy the hell out of the seemingly endless variations that do appear these days!

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 yellow squash, diced
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried basil
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup orzo
1 Tbs. parmesan cheese, grated
1 Tbs. goat cheese
2 bell peppers, halved (I used yellow and orange)
1 cup of marinara (plus a couple of halved cherry tomatoes)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a saute pan over medium heat, cook the vegs and spices in olive oil until slightly softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the stock and raise the heat to bring the mixture to a boil before adding the orzo and reducing the heat once more to medium. Cook the orzo and vegs until the orzo is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 7-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the parmesan and goat cheese.

Meanwhile, pour the marinara on the bottom of an 8"x8"glass baking dish and nestle the pepper halves down into it. Fill the peppers with the orzo and veg mixture, drizzle on some olive oil, then cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees until the peppers are tender, about 35-45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes or until the orzo is lightly browned.

Enjoy!

(Sunday being my only day off this week, I did a bunch of prep work in the kitchen so I could get ahead of my weekday meals. In this case, as I put together the Italian Tortellini Soup I set aside some of the diced vegs used in THAT dish to go into THIS one. Work smarter, not harder... right?)

Italian Tortellini Soup

It's Sunday night and time once more to clean out my crisper drawer; what better way to do that than in a soup, right? Quick and easy to put together, you can really throw any sort of fresh (or frozen, for that matter) vegetable you've got on hand into the pot and let er rip.

Italian Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 links of hot Italian sausage, sliced
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 yellow squash, diced
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, diced (you can always use canned tomatoes, but I was cleaning out the crisper drawer, remember?)
1 Tbs. dried parsley
1 Tbs. dried basil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I actually had open cartons of each in the fridge and used the last of both)
1 (8-ounce) bag of dried tortellini (I had the plain cheese kind in my cabinet)
6 ounces of baby spinach (fresh or frozen- I used fresh that was a little too wilted for a salad)

Directions:
In a large soup pot over medium heat, cook the Italian sausage, vegs, and spices in olive oil until the sausage is mostly cooked through and the vegs are slightly softened, about 6-8 minutes. Add in your stock of choice and bring the soup to a boil before dropping in the pasta, cooking until the tortellini are al dente, about 8-9 minutes. Stir in the spinach just before serving.

Enjoy!

Ethiopian Inspired Lentil & Sweet Potato Stew

Okay, so I admit that I'm not all that familiar with Ethiopian cuisine, but after coming across this recipe on Food.com I'll be doing some research because I fell in love with this stew from the first bite! Incredibly easy to make, I only made a few adjustments to the original recipe and was able to make this dish with ingredients I already had in my pantry.

Ethiopian Inspired Lentil & Sweet Potato Stew

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 Tbs. garlic powder (yes, the original recipe calls for fresh garlic but I don't keep that in my house)
1 Tbs. fresh ginger, minced (I just grated mine)
2 sweet potatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 Tbs. paprika (sweet or hot, whichever you prefer)
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. ground ginger (yes, you really want to add both fresh AND ground)
pinch of nutmeg
1 (6-ounce) can of tomato paste
1/4 cup of lentils
2 cups veggie stock (water is fine)
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large soup pot over medium heat, saute the onions and sweet potatoes with garlic powder and fresh ginger until the onions are slightly softened, about 4-6 minutes. Add in the red bell pepper and all spices (EXCEPT salt), stirring to coat the vegs in the spices, and cook for another minute or so until the spices get really fragrant. Stir in the lentils, tomato paste, and veg stock, raising the heat to high to bring the stew to a boil before dropping the heat to low. Simmer the stew over low heat until the lentils are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 25-35 minutes. (Note: You may need to add more liquid if the stew looks like it's getting dry. I actually added about a cup of water to keep things nice and moist.) Once the lentils are soft, go ahead and add salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Apple Pie Irish Oatmeal

I found this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Closet Cooking, and couldn't wait to try it out. Not only did it sound incredibly easy (it is), but who doesn't like apple pie for breakfast? Even though I generally prefer a more protein-laden breakfast (read: eggs, turkey bacon, Greek yogurt), every once in a while I like to go with a good ol' bowl of comfort like oatmeal. I first tried steel-cut oats (also labeled Irish oatmeal) a couple of years ago and really liked the nutty, chewy texture which differs quite a bit from the softer texture of the more common rolled oats. However, you can't beat the convenience of quick cooking rolled oats because steel-cut oats take a good 30-45 minutes to simmer on the stove top and that's not exactly conducive to a fast breakfast. So. That's the other thing that struck me about this recipe: it's made in the slow-cooker so you can set the timer and have the oatmeal waiting on YOU when you wake up!

Apple Pie Irish Oatmeal

Ingredients:
1 cup steel-cut oats
2 cups of water (or apple juice as per the original recipe, but I just used water)
2 cups of milk (I used plain soy milk, but you could use whatever you want)
2-3 small apples, diced (I used 3 granny smith apples that were a little past the point of eating whole)
2-4 Tbs. of brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like things, you can use more or less- I prefer to use a little less)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt (I used fine sea salt- this wasn't in the original recipe, but I think you really need the salt to offset the sweet)
1/4 cup dried fruit (recommended: raisins or dried cranberries- I used cranberries)
1/4 cup nuts, chopped (recommended: walnuts or pecans- I used walnuts)
2 Tbs. milled flaxseeds

Directions:
Dump everything in your slow-cooker and cook on LOW for 4 hours. Easy, right? ;)

Enjoy!

Tofu & Broccoli Lo Mein

Another no-recipe recipe, this can be made in any quantity and with any combination of ingredients... within reason, that is. ;)

Tofu & Broccoli Lo Mein

Ingredients:
vegetable oil
tofu, cubed and pre-baked
broccoli florets (I pulled mine straight from the freezer)
noodles, cooked to al dente (recommended: soba or whole wheat thin spaghetti)
brown sauce (I like to use this recipe)

Directions:
In a skillet over medium-high heat, stir fry the tofu and broccoli until slightly browned and crisp around the edges, about 3-5 minutes. Toss in the noodles and sauce, continuing to stir fry for another 2 minutes, or until the sauce has mostly been absorbed and everything is heated through.

Enjoy!

Hearty Vegetable Barley Soup

It's that time of year again when everybody and their mother is getting sick or just plain feeling run down as all get out. The weather is flip flopping around from cold, to not-so-cold, to frigid; people are coming down from their holiday high's, and the winter blahs are settling in. Right now, I fall somewhere in between run down and sick, while many of my co-workers aren't as lucky and are firmly stuck in the SICK category. So. What's the best thing to make everybody feel better? Soup, of course! I made a big ol' pot of this hearty vegetarian delight to bring to work tonight to share, so here's hoping it's just as good as the proverbial Jewish Grandmother's chicken soup to cure what ails us. ;)

Hearty Vegetable Barley Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 roma tomatoes, diced (1/2 a can of diced tomatoes would work if you don't have any fresh ones on hand)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. Italian herbs (or just use oregano- dealer's choice)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
8 cups of liquid (I used veggie stock to make it vegetarian, but go ahead and use chicken stock if you want)
1 cup of pearled barley
1 (15.5 ounce) can of beans, drained and rinsed (dealer's choice)
2" piece of parmesan rind
8 ounces of frozen mixed vegs (yes, straight from the freezer)
1 Tbs. soy sauce *optional (I like this because it adds a salty savoriness you really can't get with just plain salt)

Directions:
In a large soup pot over medium-low heat, saute the onion, celery, and carrots in olive oil for 3-5 minutes before stirring in the tomatoes and all spices. Continue to cook until the vegs start to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Pour in your liquid of choice as well as the barley and bring the soup to a boil. Stir in the beans and parmesan rind, cover the pot, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45-55 minutes or until the barley gets nice and tender and fluffy. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add in the frozen vegs and soy sauce (if using), and adjust seasoning as desired.

Enjoy!