It is so hot in St. Charles, but I don't want to stop cooking! To avoid heating up our whole house with a gas oven, I made stuffed green peppers in my slow cooker. They turned out great, were a snap to make and really easy to clean up. I had 3 HUGE peppers, so I cut them in half and stuffed each half. If you have smaller ones, feel free to use the whole pepper.
Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients:
3 Large Peppers (green, red, yellow or orange)
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 & 1/2 Cups Cooked Instant Brown Rice
1/2 Cup Black Bean & Corn Salsa
1 Egg
3 TBSP Hummus
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Water
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1. Cut peppers in half. Take half of pepper with stem. Carefully cut around stem and pull out seeds.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together ground turkey, rice, salsa, egg, hummus and salt. Stuff peppers with mixture.
3. Pour 1/2 cup of water into bottom of a large slow cooker. Place stuffed peppers into cooker. Cook on high for 90 minutes. Place shredded cheese on top of peppers and cook for 15 more minutes on high. Keep on warm or low until ready to serve. Serves 4-5 people.
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This is a recipe for Gordita filling. My husband loves Mexican food. Gorditas are really easy to make and they're a neat treat for your family. To make the gordita shell, you'll need to buy Corn Masa Mix from your grocery store. I found it at Aldi's, but you can find it at almost any store. Follow the directions on the bag for gordita or tortilla shells. In case there aren't directions, you're going to want to mix equal parts of water and mix to make a dough. Heat up a skillet with oil. Make dough into balls and flatten out. Fry dough in your pan until both sides are golden brown. Fresh gorditas are the best! You'll never want to go back to Taco Bell :)
Here's a recipe for a potato filling to top your shells with. This recipe makes enough for 6 to 8 people. This is a mild filling, spice it up with red pepper flakes and jalepenos if your family likes spicy. Enjoy!
Potato Gordita Filling
Ingredients:
5 to 6 Baked Potatoes
1 Lb Ground Turkey
1& 1/2 TBSP Dried Cilantro
1 TBSP Cumin
1 TSP Onion Powder
1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Monterey Jack Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste.
1. Chop up potatoes into small chunks. Brown ground turkey in a large frying pan. When brown, add olive oil and potatoes. (I leave some of the skin on the potatoes.)
2. Add spices, water and cheese. Cook until turkey is completely finished, cheese is melted and potatoes have become soft. Add water while cooking if your filling becomes to dry!
3. Spread filling on Gordita shells and top with lettuce, tomatoes and salsa.
This weekend my wise, older brother turned 33. Yea Mike! My mom and dad threw him a really fun surprise party with lots of family and friends. We were fortunate enough to be the beneficiaries of some really yummy food leftover from the party. Lately, we've been so busy that I really haven't had a lot of time to cook. On Monday I looked into our fridge and knew I needed to cook a lot! Our fridge was stocked with food. So, from the leftover French Onion Dip was born Mini Turkey and Broccoli Cannelloni. I made them with a red sauce, but I think they would be even more delicious if you used a white alfredo sauce.
Mini Turkey and Broccoli Cannelloni
Ingredients:
1 Box Manicotti Noodles
1 Lb Ground Turkey
1 Package Chopped Frozen Broccoli
1/2 Cup French Onion Dip
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1 Bag Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg
1 and 1/2 Jars Red Spaghetti Sauce or 2 Jars Alfredo Sauce (or a combination of the two)
1. Boil manicotti noodles following the directions on the box. When finished, drain water and cut noodles in half.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Cook broccoli in microwave for 5 minutes. Let cool when finished. If there are any large pieces, chop them up.
4. In a large bowl, mix together ground turkey, broccoli, french onion dip, ricotta cheese, 3/4 bag of mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and the egg.
5. Spread a thick layer of spaghetti or alfredo sauce on the bottom of two medium sized baking dishes. Stuff manicotti noodles with turkey mixture and place in baking dishes. Cover finished noodles with remaining sauce.
6. Bake covered for 35 minutes. Add remaining mozzarella cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to the top of the noodles. Cook for 5 more minutes uncovered. Let cool before serving.
My husband Andy loves all Mexican and Tex-Mex foods. I could make tacos and burritos every night of the week and he would be in heaven. However, our daughter Celia, wouldn't like it very much. You can imagine Andy's surprise when his daughter did not pop out of the womb wanting some nachos. In fact, it took her three and a half years to find something on the Taco Bell menu that she actually likes besides cinnamon twists. Lucky for Andy, they started selling cheese roll-ups- melted cheese and a tortilla, which Celia loves. So now, we can regularly visit Taco Bell again.
Last night, when I started to make dinner, I wanted to make something Mexicany for Andy, but I was tired of tacos. I had a few tortilla chips at the bottom of the bag that I wanted to use, so I made a Tex-Mex Meatloaf for dinner. It was really good and moist! The best thing about it is, if you have any leftover, crumble it up, throw in some taco seasoning and beans and have tacos the next night.
I did not make the meatloaf very spicy so Celia and Charlie would eat it. Add some red peppers and use spicy salsa to heat it up.
Tex-Mex Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Turkey
1/8 Cup Dried, Chopped Onions
1 TBSP Dried Green Peppers
1 TBSP Dried Red Bell Peppers
2 Eggs
1/2 TBSP Southwest Seasoning Mix (I used a Pampered Chef one)
3/4 Cup Crushed Tortilla Chips (divide into 1/4 Cup and 1/2 Cup)
1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
3/4 Cup Salsa (divide into 1/4 Cup and 1/2 Cup)
3 Slices Colby Jack Cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together ground turkey, onions, peppers, eggs, southwest seasoning, 1/4 cup crushed tortilla chips, bread crumbs, and 1/4 cup salsa.
3. Spray a glass bottom pie pan. Form meat mixture into a log and place on pie pan. I did this by making two large balls. I placed them next to each other on the pan and filled in between them with the rest of the meatloaf mix.
4. Spread 1/2 cup of salsa on top of meatloaf. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, place cheese slices on top of meatloaf, bake for another 10 minutes. When timer goes off spread 1/2 cup of crushed tortilla chips on top of melted cheese. Bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes after you take out of oven. Serve with salsa.
Hi all! I am so blessed to get to stay home with Celia and Charlie two days during the week. Even on the craziest days, I love it. Today was one of those days! So when Andy walked in the door tonight, I was happy to turn our two little hoodlums over to him to start cooking. My brother gave me a filet mignon that he had leftover from the other night when he bar-b-qued and I had some ground turkey leftover from our pizza pie. I made these into Fajita Style Nachos. They were delicious and would be great for a Super Bowl Party! Comer con gusto!
Fajita Style Nachos
Ingredients:
1/2 Large Onion- Chopped
1 Large Green Pepper- Chopped
1/2 Packet Taco Seasoning
2 Cups Cooked Chopped Meat (I used 1 cup filet mignon and 1 cup ground turkey)
1 Can Beans- Drained (I used small white beans)
1 TBSP Dried Cilantro
1 TBSP Minced, Refrigerated Garlic
Tortilla Chips
1 Cup Shredded Cheese
Sliced Black Olives
Sour Cream
Salsa
Jalapenos (optional)
Spray a large frying pan with no stick cooking spray. Add onions and green peppers to the pan. Add 3/4 cup of water to the pan. Next add taco seasoning and saute until peppers start to turn bright green and onions are becoming translucent. Add meat, beans, cilantro and garlic to the pan. Cook until very little liquid remains. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with a rim (so the beans and meat won't fall all over your counter). Spread out a heavy layer of tortilla chips onto the baking sheet. Spoon meat and bean mixture all over the chips. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the meat and beans. Cook in the oven until cheese is completely melted. Add black olives, sour cream, jalapenos and salsa when serving.
Last week I asked Andy to pick up some hotdog buns at the bread store on his way home from work. When there, he was overcome by the cheap prices and bought a giant loaf of white bread, a 16 pack of hotdog buns, and a box of powdered sugar doughnuts. The doughnuts were gone within 24 hours, but the bread and hotdog buns lingered longer. I have had to think of all kinds of creative ways to cook with bread over the past week. Tonight I made Pizza Burger Pie in memory of my grade school days. I loved when we had pizza burgers at lunch. In fact all the kids loved them. They were basically a bun topped with spaghetti sauce, hamburger, and cheese. I took that basic recipe, made it into a large dish and fancied it up. After it was finished cooking and I placed it on the table, Charlie proclaimed, "That's my favorite- Yummy pizza!" And sure enough, everyone in our family had two helpings. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.
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Pizza Burger Pie
Ingredients:
5 Hotdog Buns
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
1 Cup Ground Turkey
1 1/4 Cup Spaghetti Sauce
18 Black Olives Sliced
1/2 Cup Red Onions Diced
1/2 Large Green Pepper
1/2 TBSP Dried Basil
2 1/2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesean Cheese
Spray a round 10" to 11" baking dish with Pam. Tear up hotdog buns and spread out over bottom of dish. Drizzle olive oil over torn up buns and then sprinkle garlic powder on top. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until toasty. Brown ground turkey while buns are toasting in the oven.
Take the buns out of the oven. Spread tomato sauce over toasted buns. Next spread the browned ground turkey on top of the sauce. Add the onions, peppers, and black olives to the top of the pie. Sprinkle dried basil and parmesean cheese on top of veggies. Finally top Pizza Burger Pie with shredded mozzarella. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and starting to brown around the edges. Let cool and enjoy!
