Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers Comfort

 

You can pretty much stuff bell peppers with anything. Add some ground beef or fresh sausage to your leftover rice, quinoa or even thanksgiving stuffing and you have the perfect filling for the peppers. These ones were stuffed with fresh chicken basil sausage, spinach and cheese. Here are the steps:

  • Wash and cut vertically  3 bell peppers, removing all the seeds and stems (I like to stuff the peppers by cutting them in half vertically and stuff each half but you can just cut the tops off and stuff the whole thing upright.
  • Preheat oven to 360F
  • Brown 3 medium fresh sausages of your choice (I used chicken basil from Sprouts) in a skillet with 1 medium onion and 2 medium roma tomatoes diced (you can substitute with ½ cup of tomato sauce of your choice)
  • Add 1 cup (or more) of cooked rice, or cooked quinoa, or cooked couscous to the sausage mixture. I used only sausage for the batch in the picture.
  • If you want the filling to be more compact you can add a beaten egg to the rice mixture before stuffing the peppers
  • Coat a baking pan with some olive oil (just enough to not let the peppers stick)
  • Place the stuffed peppers in the baking pan and top it with shredded mozzarella or parmesan cheese
  • Cover pan with foil
  • Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes remove the foil for the last 10 minutes.
  • Eat
  • Repeat

Life gives you lemons? Make Tiramisu!

Lemon Raspberry Tiramisu with Greek Yogurt Topping

The lemon tree in our backyard was overly productive this summer. We had pretty much all sorts of lemon creations. Some good…some awful not so good. But the Lemon Raspberry Tiramisu was a big winner. I made a lemon cream filling from scratch, soaked the lady fingers in homemade raspberry lemon simple syrup and topped with greek yogurt mixed with sugar, vanilla and lemon zest. The creamy tanginess of the greek yogurt really  compliment the overall flavor and texture of the dessert.

Greek Yogurt Topping:

  • 8oz greek yogurt (I used Fage for this recipe)
  • Remove excess water if any
  • Mix in 1 tbsp of lemon juice+1tsp of vanilla extract
  • Add 1/8 cup of confection (substitute for 1/4cup of honey or agave syrup)

Two Numbers

Two numbers I’ve decided to change…160 and 219. One is my cholesterol the other my weight. Among other favorites, this salad is definitely on top of the list and it can be found in my fridge every week. It works as a snack too.

Confession…Not dieting, just on a health kick.

Big Lots! Pizza

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw an entire shelf of Bob’s Red Mill products at Big Lots. And they were NOT expired. Not even close to be expired. And they were heavily discounted. So I bought one of each and went back for seconds. The whole grain gluten free pizza crust mix is a winner. Easy to make and delicious.

My lack of hand tossing skills made the pies look sloppy  rustic.

Featured Pizzas toppings:

Pesto+Fig+Goat Cheese+Caramelized Onions

Fresh Mozzarella+Pear+Arugula+Caramelized Onions+Balsamic Glaze

Cream Cheese+Banana+Caramel+White Chocolate Chips

12 pics of 2012

I can’t really find the inspiration nor the right mood to tell why there was such a big hiatus. Who cares, really?

I’m still cooking…most of the time great food but sometimes angry food. I no longer go food shopping every Wednesday. Rather, I run out of food (or fun) and I hit Ralph’s, Costco, Von’s, TJs and occasionally Whole Foods. I clip coupons…and most of the times forget to use them. I do shop consistently what’s in season and what’s on sale. Budget? Ah, I tried hard, but it’s more challenging than I thought.

So the “deal” part of “dealicious cooking” is still valid but no longer the focus of this blog. I’m still shopping and cooking sensibly but the real “deal” is…I love to splurge!

Although, I’m documenting some of my cooking, eating and drinking moments on Facebook, it has been basically one year without sharing here. I’ll post one picture a day for the next 12 days of some of these moments. No recipes (I rarely follow them anyway). Just my best 2012 food memories. I hope you find some inspiration or even entertainment in it!

I’ll start with this insane Chorizo & Mushroom Crostini.

(Chorizo (from Whole Foods meat counter)+red onions+Crimini mushrooms+shaved Manchego cheese+cilantro on top of toasted ciabatta bread.)

Cheers!

Brazil…I recommend it!

After 16 long years without tasting my country, I finally stepped in Brazil again with my heart and appetite open to whatever damage I was going to be able to do in 9 days, 14 hours and whatever minutes I had there.

It’s the powerful combination of honest good Brazilian ingredients, culinary roots, culture embracement and context that makes every meal I’ve had and shared with others there the most memorable experiences of my life.

And Brazil tasted even better.

There was the Bold

and the Beautiful

 

Everything in between is now memories. Sweet, salty, hardy, spicy, delicious, fresh, tasteful…unforgettable memories.

 

 

 

 

Quick sometimes is not easy

I’m still trying to find a balance between my new job and my old job as a stay-at-home Mom. Keeping up with the house chores, homework, kids schedules, food shopping and meal preparation is not easy when you have to work. I figured out that grocery shopping and cooking do not go with the adjectives QUICK or EASY.

I went to the 99c Store to find birthday paraphernalia for my son’s party and I was surprised to find beautiful Pasilla chiles from Mexico. They were probably full of unpronounceable  pesticides, but I overlooked the cons and turned them into filling for delicious 20-minute tamales.

Along with the chiles came Organic Earthbound spring mix salad, Brazilian Bauducco cookies I grew up eating and some Valentine’s decorations. Each only 99 dealicious cents!

Last week I tried my new ceramic fondue pot from Crate and Barrel. It’s beautiful and it works! It was the first time the kids had fondue – what’s not to like about dipping little bites of food in cheese sauce?

On the ‘trying new things’ note, I made Farro for the first time last Friday. After overcooking it, I decided to make Farro risotto instead of salad and it turned out ok. Added roasted apples, fennel, Gruyere cheese and plain greek yogurt. Far from fabulous, but definitely good. Served with orange glazed pork chops and blood orange tequila sauce.

A Belated Happy New Year!

It’s 2011 and life is about to change a bit around here. I have a 30 hour a week job, a new more spacious fridge and a cooking mind full of challenges.

Despite the shorter time around the kitchen and food stores, I do want to keep up with the challenge of feeding my family sensibly and “dealiciously”. What really changes is when and how I’ll be planning and cooking our meals.

The usual weekly menu will go up on Sunday instead of Wednesday and shopping will happen whenever I get a free time in my schedule.

So, to all the 3 readers out there that would like to contribute with a quick meal recipe, one dish dinner recipe or easy frozen meals go to the “Quickly Dealicious” page and live your suggestions there. I need your help and I would love to bring your ideas to our table.

Here are some of the last meals of 2010:

Pulpo a la Gallega (Octopus with Spanish paprika, sea salt and olive oil)

Lamb Roast with mushrooms, cabernet tarragon sauce on top of pappardelle.

Changes – but not in the menu

I’m starting a new job in 2 weeks. The last time I had anything to do with the Corp world was in…let’s just say, a long time ago. The opportunity kind of stumbled upon me and next thing I know I was signing the offer letter. I feel fortunate, excited, nervous and kind of lost on a emotional trip that it’s just not worth it to describe because after all this blog is about “dealicious cooking”.

I’ll continue preparing home meals according to whatever is on sale. Because I’ll no longer be afforded the luxury of traveling from one market to the next in order to maximize our food shopping savings, I’ll have to be extra good about picking the market with the best deals.

If the whole working-cooking-mom succeeds I’ll consider investing in a freezer. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the space I have in our small freezer wisely. Beans, meatballs and stews are on my list of foods that freeze well and can be stocked in small quantities.

The real challenge will be to ignore the MEGA Whole Foods I have right by my work and just try to take reasonable advantage of it.

Wish me luck!

Here is what we’ve been eating lately:

Spanish Tortilla with zucchini (Potato, onion, zucchini frittata)

Frango Ensopado (Chicken thighs cooked in the a mushroom-onion-bell pepper broth)

NY Steak, pear walnut balsamic salad and roasted purple potatoes


Thankful for our diversity

I grew up in Brazil and Spain and celebrated my first Thanksgiving in California almost 16 years ago. Back then it was more about the days off than the Turkey. No cooking, no stress, no school and no work.

Oh my, how Thanksgiving holiday has evolved!

It’s now one of my favorite holidays. It’s All-American, it’s all about cooking and highlighting all the things we’ve been grateful for all the way.

I have to say that the supermarket ads made it easy to find the best fresh turkey deals out there. I’ve done the free range organic turkey in the past and came to the conclusion that it’s way too expensive for the amount of left overs we get. I get a small fresh turkey instead and avoid eating turkey wrap sandwiches for a week!

So, for our Thanksgiving dinner we had:

48 hour marinated turkey (fresh herbs, garlic, onion, spices, vodka, salt and sugar all tied up in a heavy duty plastic bag, turning it twice a day). Our turkey weighed less than 12 lbs. and it was the perfect size for our family and our fridge.

Brazilian farofa (stuffing made with yucca flour) that I proudly stuffed our bird with.

White country bread stuffing with apricots

Curry creamed spinach (see recipe at the end of this post)

Sweet potato gratin

Macaroni salad (Hawaiian family style)

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Pimped Jiffy corn muffins (made it with the kids. Sour cream instead of milk, add 1 15 oz. can of cream of corn and 1/2 15 oz. can of corn. Super moist and yummy!)

Gravy and cranberry sauce (the canned kind)

Pumpkin pie

Dulce de leche Profiteroles

Curry Creamed Spinach

2 tbsp olive oil or butter

2 or more garlic cloves minced or crushed

3 tbsp of flour

2 cups of low fat milk

2 tsp salt

2 tsp of mild curry powder

1 tsp of turmeric (optional)

1 small bag of fresh baby spinach steamed and chopped

Heat the OOil or butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add garlic until brown. Add the flour and stir/whisk until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Start adding the hot milk to the butter mixture slowly, whisking continuously until smooth. You can stop or continue adding milk until you get a thick consistency. Bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly, add curry then remove from heat. Add spinach. Season to taste.