Stuffed Pepper

For stuffed peppers tonight I used:

1 cup 10minute Uncle Ben's Brown Rice
1 head of Asian Greens
8oz V8 low sodium vegetable juice
2 chicken sausage links
2 medium tomatoes
3 peppers
Shredded cheese blend, low fat


I started the water boiling for the peppers. While that was boiling, I cleaned and cut the pepper and greens. The greens taste like cabbage.  I also started the rice, which took 10 minutes.

When the large pot of water was boiling I added the greens' stems first, then the peppers (I cut those in half this time so they would fit in the pot). I brought that back to boiling then added the green leaves. After a minute or two I drained off the water and returned it to the large pot so I could add the diced tomato, rice and chicken sausage. Last time I made stuffed peppers, I thought it was dry, so this time I added the vegetable juice.  Seasoned with salt and ground peppercorn.

I scooped the filling into the pepper halves and arranged in a baking dish. I sprinkled cheese on top, covered and baked in the oven, convection setting, for 20minutes. It was heated through after 20minutes.

This took about 1.5 hours, cooking on my own. Not sure Bert would have saved me much time since there was time spent waiting for water to boil.

Ratatouille

I made ratatouille tonight so I can bring my lunch to work this week. I did have to stop by the store to pick up a summer squash, since I realized just today that I didn't actually get one in my box this week! And so ends the summer squash season. The farms might have some for the Farmer's market, but maybe not enough to put in the CSA boxes. Even the grocery store was almost out of zucchini. There was one left.  I didn't take it, but the summer squash looked okay, so I took one of those.

I used
1 large onion
Some garlic cloves
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
The thin eggplant
The summer squash
3 small tomatoes
Salt
Oregano
Basil

I used some suggestions from this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ratatouille-recipe0.html

I started with the onion and garlic, cooked that a little, then added the eggplant, cooked that a little, then added the rest except tomato and cooked that a little. Then I added the tomatoes, salt, oregano, and basil and covered. It simmered for probably 40minutes. I pulled out an eggplant piece and it was really good! Now it is cooling and then I'll eat it the rest of the week.
I am going to try it with lentils tomorrow, and maybe again for dinner with an egg. I also have crusty French rolls that will taste good with it.

This is before I cooked it down.

Besides the chopping, which I am getting better at, this was fairly quick and easy. Emeril's recipe only cooked it for 5 extra minutes instead of 40minutes, so I could probably save some time there.

I used some of the juice from the ratatouille to flavor my water for the lentils. Should be good!

Stuffed peppers

Tonight I made a new dish! Stuffed peppers.
I had one medium red bell pepper, 1 large green bell pepper, 1 small red bell pepper. Leftover eggplant and squash from the previous recipe and leftover bulgur, already cooked. We also defrosted two chicken sausage links (Thin and Trim brand).

I boiled the peppers in a large pot of boiling water for like 5 minutes. I diced the squash and eggplant that had already been sauteed and seasoned earlier in the day and cut up a medium tomato. I mixed all of my vegetables with sausage pieces together. I cut the soft peppers in half, then filled them with my stuffing. I then sprinkled cheese on the top and baked it in the oven at 350 for maybe 30minutes, took it out, sprinkled on more cheese, and put it in for another 5 minutes. Done.

Bert didn't have any complaints as he shoveled it into his mouth. I thought the stuffing was kind of dry and maybe would taste better with some tomato sauce to bring everything together.

Made enough for four servings (two nights) for us.

We each ate half of the green pepper. Tomorrow we will share the red peppers since those are smaller we can each eat a whole one (or share the halves since the small pepper is very small).

Tofu stir fry

On Tuesday we made stir fry. Bert heated up some olive oil. I carefully cut the tofu into 40 squares, 5 squares x 4 squares x 2 squares. I tried to squeeze out as much moisture as possible, by laying the tofu block out on paper towels, and then drying it again when I made the first cut. Bert watched and turned the tofu in the large skillet. When they looked perfectly brown, he transferred the cubes to back to the cutting board, then started the vegetable stir fry. He used 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 onion, 1 large summer squash. We used Tj's Island Soyaki sauce for flavoring. Dinner was served over Uncle Ben's 10minute brown rice. 

Even though the crisp on the tofu was good, I am still not a fan... and neither is Bert. It is just too soft. I either need to give very firm tofu a try, or give up on this method of using tofu.

Wednesday we went to a shindig after work and didn't get home until 8:30 or so. Instead of eating leftovers we just had eggs and toast.

Tonight we ate the tofu leftovers. At least the tofu is more consistent tonight. Soft all the way through instead of having a crispy exterior. Leftover stir fry is not that great. Everything is mushy. Note to self: stir fry isn't hard. Just make it from scratch.

My composting pail arrives August 23rd! The business is so busy they couldn't get me a pail right away. Good news for them, unfortunate news for me. We need better composting options!

Stuffed peppers

Tonight we made stuffed peppers with the risotto from last night.
Bert actually did everything. He cut and cleaned the peppers, put the rice mix inside and popped it in the oven. The afterthought was maybe we should have precooked the peppers before stuffing them. I think they came out fine, he thought they were still too firm.
Steamed the last two ears of corn. (Yesterday's was so much better even if it was slightly under steamed.)
Stir fried the chicken with everyday seasoning, which does have 80mg of sodium per 1/4 teaspoon, in case you were wondering the sodium content. Trader Joes does have 21 Seasoning Salute which is without salt, but it is more fun to use the seasoning with the grinders.

For lunch I had some roasted beets, last week's leftover lettuce, pickles, Siggi's vanilla yogurt and peach. The Siggi's yogurt is really good! I think I'll buy it when it is on sale.