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2-Cheese Stuffed Peppers

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 23:00:02 +0000

A very unconventional stuffed pepper! This one’s a cheese lover’s delight.

I have to be honest. I was never much of a stuffed pepper lover. My mother used to make them the conventional way with a ground beef and rice filling and the sauce was pretty meh. Most others I tasted tasted like my mother’s recipe. That’s because that recipe is pretty much standard.

The original inspiration for these came from a gal who grew up on my street in Brooklyn, NY. Way back then, I wasn’t friendly with Chris–just by means of the age difference. I was a young adult when she was a little kid. But move both of us to near-senior (me) and her hovering around 50, and we find we have so very much in common. She’s a WONDERFUL cook so likes to talk about what she makes.

Chris first told me about these stuffed peppers about 5 years ago. She said her then-kindergarten-age son was an extremely picky eater. He wouldn’t eat stuffed peppers made conventionally because not only did they taste “Meh,” but the rice put him off. I won’t go into what he thought it looked like in the meat, LOL!!! So out of desperation, Chris had to find a way he WOULD eat this since the family liked it so much. Well, he liked cheese and that’s how she devised a great recipe that everyone loved, including her picky son.

She told me pack the meat with mozzarella cheese–big hunks of it. No, the shredded won’t do here, you have to buy the block and cut it in cubes between 1/4 and 1/2-inch on the side. Of course she left out the rice and used either white bread soaked in water or soft bread crumbs. The filling is actually a giant meatball with mozzarella cheese. Then she’d cook it in homemade pasta sauce or like she said, sometime’s she’d cheat a bit and use a jar sauce.

When I fist made these I couldn’t believe how good they actually were. Much like Chris’ son, I began to develop a love of stuffed peppers!

Over the years, this recipe has evolved with me. I keep tweaking it and this recipe here is the best tweak I’ve done so far–even though all have been good. I have made them with ground turkey and they’re nice, but they are just not as good as with ground beef. That’s a personal taste thing, and that surprises me because I actually prefer chicken and turkey to beef, but what can I say?

These are quick and easy, despite having to cut up the block of mozzarella. They take about 30-45 minutes done stovetop all in one pan and they’re easily adapted to the set-and-forget world of slow cooking! One carryover from my mother is the way she prepped the peppers. Instead of cutting off the top and filling a whole pepper, she’d slice them in half lengthwise. Its a good plan because however you cook them, they don’t fall over like the whole pepper is like to do.

I used an array of colors for the peppers since the red, orange and yellow were on sale at the same price as the green. The rainbow of colors adds a lot of eye appeal to this dish, but any color pepper will do.

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2-Cheese Stuffed Peppers

A very unconventional stuffed pepper! This one’s a cheese lover’s delight.

Prep Time20

Cook Time45

Total Time1 5

Course: beef, Comfort Foods, skillet dinners, Slow Cooker

Cuisine: American

Keyword: stuffed peppers

Servings: 4

Calories: 677kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

4 medium bell peppers any color
1 lb lean ground beef
3 slices white bread
2 eggs
16 oz block of mozzarella cut in 1/4- to 1/2-inch cubes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup marinara sauce
26-28 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped

Instructions

Soak white bread in about 1/4 cup of water. Let sit for 5 minutes; squeeze as much water as you can from the bread.
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, squeezed bread, eggs, salt, garlic powder, oregano, pepper and Parmesan cheese.
Mix in the mozzarella
Prepare peppers by cutting in half lengthwise and removing seeds and membranes.
Divide the meat evenly between the 8 pepper halves.
Place the cup of marinara sauce in the bottom of a large (about 12-inch) skillet.
Place the filled peppers on top of the sauce.
Add the entire can of diced tomatoes over the peppers
Cook at medium-high heat until liquid begins to boil
Cover and lower heat to simmer
Cook for 30 minutes and test for doneness. If the meat is not done, cook an additional 10-15 minutes.
Top with the chopped fresh parsley
Slow Cooker Directions:
Prepare filling and peppers as in main recipe
Add marinara to slow cooker
Place filled peppers in slow cooker.
Add the can of diced tomatoes
*Cook on low 5-8 hours, high 2-5.
*My slow cookers cook these fast for some reason. Check at the MINIMUM times for doneness. They can always be held at the warm setting till you are ready to eat.

Nutrition

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Cheesy Cheesy Chili Dog Casserole

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 21 Sep 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Cheesy Cheesy Chili Dog Casserole

I’ll begin by saying I hate chili dogs and any derivative of it, but I LOVE this…read on…

Unbelievable

I won’t bother with the backstory on this…let’s just say it was an “experiment” of sorts.

Never was a chili lover, and combining that with hot dogs, you got even less love.

What I did was throw on a quickie chili–this time in my rice cooker, but you could use a few of the pre-made canned stuff too. What made this good WAS the chili–best I’ve EVER made, well to my taste at least.

I’ll give the recipe as I remember it (HAHAHAHA) just in case you wanted to try it, but your own or canned as I said above, will surely work. I’d say about 3-4 cans of Hormel would be an equivalent amount.

You could substitute corn or flour tortillas for my biscuits. The biscuits stayed a bit wet underneath from contact with the chili juice, but I did not find this a big problem.

I used “high-class” hot dogs in this–Nathan’s. But I’m in New York and can buy these in the supermarket as well as Sabrett (another New York STAPLE sold by street hot dog vendors). However, your finest regional brand will do.

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Extra Cheesy Chili Dog Casserole

Chili dog casserole is the perfect kid-friendly comfort food. Using extra cheese makes it even better!

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

Total Time1

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: casserole recipe, chili dogs, comfort food

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 815kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

For the Chili

1/2 lb lean ground beef browned and drained
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 oz tomato sauce
15 oz kidney beans drained and rinsed
thai chile pepper or hot pepper of your choice, I used one small pepper
10 oz tomatoes with green chiles (like Rotel)
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For the Casserole:

2 pkgs refrigerated biscuit dough extra large, like Grands
1 lb hot dogs
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese preferably sharp cheddar
1/4 cup chopped onion
16 slices sharp cheddar cheese 1/4-inch pieces (I use Kraft Cracker Barrel Sharp)
2 green onions scallions chopped for garnish

Instructions

Place all chili ingredients in a 7-cup rice cooker and cook until unit switches to "warm." For stovetop, add all chili ingredients to a large saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until juice is reduced by about 50 percent, about 20 minutes
To assemble the casserole: Meanwhile, cut slices of cheddar cheese off a block of cheddar. Cut hot dogs in half crosswise (you will have 2 hot dog pieces, so you have 2 WHOLE sections of franks). Make a slit on the top of each hot dog half and insert the cheese slices. Set aside.
Open biscuit dough and separate biscuits. Flatten each biscuit slightly. Place a cheese-stuffed hot dog portion in each biscuit and about a teaspoon of chopped onion. Bring ends of biscuit up around hot dog and seal. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease a 13 x 9 -inch baking dish.
Place chili in baking pan. Top with biscuit-wrapped hot dogs. Sprinkle with one half of the shredded cheddar cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until biscuits are brown and crusty on top. Add remaining half of the shredded cheese. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Garnish with chopped green onion.

Nutrition

Cheesy Cheesy Chili Dog Casserole

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Quinoa Fried “Rice”

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 17:16:00 +0000

Quinoa Fried Rice

Quinoa has become one of my favorite grains. Often, I will substitute quinoa for rice in many dishes.

Using quinoa in place of white rice in my fried rice recipe was a big improvement. The grain has a natural crunch and nuttiness that adds so much to this dish.

Quinoa is cooked exactly like rice. I use my rice cooker to prepare it. Yes, it’s a little more costly than rice, but you can find deals. I buy this in my local health food store in the bulk section. It’s half the price as a small box you can buy in the supermarket.

Delicious Quinoa Fried Rice

The version shown above is vegetarian. If you prefer a little meat in this, then any leftover chicken, pork or beef will do. For the recipe given, add about 1 cup of diced, cooked meat and add it after the eggs are scrambled.

Check out more healthy/grain recipes at Shine Supper Club

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Quinoa Fried "Rice"

The grain has a natural crunch and nuttiness that adds so much to this dish.

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time30

Course: side dishes, skillet dinners, vegetarian dishes

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: fried rice, quinoa

Servings: 6

Calories: 197kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp olive oil
3 eggs
1 medium onion thickly sliced
2 large garlic cloves minced
1/2 cup cooked peas
1 tsp dark sesame oil
3-4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

Place the quinoa, water and olive oil in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and cook until all the water is absorbed. If you are using a rice cooker, add the quinoa, water and olive oil and set to COOK (it is done when the rice cooker switches to WARM).
Heat the 2 tbs of vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok. Break eggs into pan and with a spatula, scramble the eggs. When eggs are almost set, add garlic and onion (and meat if you are adding). Stir fry until onion is almost translucent.
Add cooked quinoa, sesame oil and soy sauce. Stir. At this point taste the quinoa--you may have to add more soy sauce depending on your personal tastes. Stir in peas, and heat through.
Makes 3 hearty servings or 6 side dish servings.

Nutrition

Quinoa Fried Rice

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