A Child's Portion: Stuffed Red Peppers

For some reason I keep ending up on stuffed red pepper recipes in my e-travels lately and I don't really care for red peppers, haha.  It seemed like something the kids would like so I added it to my menu for the week.  Of course, I couldn't find the perfect recipe so I just mixed a bunch of different ones together to come up with tonight's version.  I served it with a spinach salad and a fresh baguette.  What a great meal at the end of a very (very very) long day.

Stuffed Red Peppers

6 red peppers

butter

2 chopped onions

4 cloves minced garlic

4 stalks chopped celery

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

2 cups cooked (brown) rice

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

cheddar cheese

1 batch chunky pasta sauce

*Hollow out the red peppers and boil for 5 minutes

*Saute onions in butter until very soft.  Add garlic, celery, and sunflower seeds and cook for 6-8 minutes.

*Add rice, parsley, salt and pepper, beans, cumin, and parsley and mix well.

*Spoon mixture into peppers and top with cheese.

*Use the pasta sauce to line a casserole dish.  Place stuffed peppers into the sauce and cover with more. 

*Cover dish with tin foil and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.  Remove foil and bake until cheese is bubbly.

My Focaccia Bread Recipe Mix-up!

To say my children were crazy today would be an understatement.  I tried to get them settled in some quiet activity so that I could start my focaccia bread but it just wasn't working out.  Finally I had a moment and tried to decide between several different recipes.  I chose this one but was also looking a lot at this one here.  Somewhere along the line I started accidentally going between the two and didn't notice until I was almost done.  Oops!  It turned out wonderfully but it could have gone very very badly.  I'm going to blame my children for distracting me... even though I'm sure I had a little to do with it.  I made the bread to go along with a red pepper soup that we all really enjoy and a green salad.  Yesterday my friend Heather pointed out this 1 ingredient "ice cream" recipe that we ended up having for dessert.  She is my new hero.

Bell Pepper Soup

olive oil

2 chopped onions

3 cloves minced garlic

6 chopped red pepper

2 chopped green pepper

2 grated potatoes

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp basil

red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

4 cups vegetable broth

*Saute onion, and garlic for 5 minutes

*Add peppers, potatoes, and spices and saute on low for 45-50 minutes

*Use immersion blender on low

*Add stock and bring to a boil

*Simmer for 5-10 minutes

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

1 package dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water

2 1/4 cups tepid water

 2 tbsp olive oil

7  cups all purpose flour

5 tbsp vital wheat gluten

4 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, divided
2 teaspoons coarse salt
Fresh grated romano cheese

*In a small bowl mix together yeast and warm water, let sit for 10 minutes

*In a large bowl combine tepid water and olive oil.  Add yeast mixture

*Sift in flour, wheat gluten and salt.  Fold in half of the rosemary.

*Knead for 10 minutes

*Cover with damp cloth and let rise for 90 minutes in a well oiled bowl

*Place on parchment paper and press down into 2 ovals (1/2 inch deep).  I used a rolling pin on top of the parchment paper.  Cover with damp cloth for 30 more minutes

*Cover with remaining rosemary and cheese

*Heat up baking stone in 450 oven.  Place bread on stone and bake for 10 minutes.

*Lower heat to 375 and bake 15 more minutes

Banana "Ice Cream"

5 chopped very ripe frozen bananas

*Place in food processor and mix for 6ish minutes on high

the end