Stuffed Peppers & Good Morning!

A funny thing happened since I last posted….actually a whole lot of nothings happened (should not have been so consumed by these events), nonetheless I still let it affect me and what I love to do; which by the way is always something creative and/or internal.

I am creative in many ways, I write poems, I love to crochet, I write whatever is on my mind in my journal or wherever I can find a piece of paper.  I love crafting projects; especially this time of the year; making wreaths or something for the outside, and lastly, I cook meals, and this blog is an expression of my love of cooking.

Everything that I just mentioned is truthfully my lifeline; I don’t have any other way of expressing this without sounding so dramatic because it’s what I have been doing since I can remember.  I always wrote in a diary and I have written poems since I was barely 5 years old.  So why do I drop what I love to do the minute something goes wrong, whether I have a bad day, disappointed or worse afraid? I don’t know why but I constantly turn my back to my first love; writing. Maybe if I’m feeling rotten I feel too guilty to console me …hmm.  Maybe it’s time to realize who I am, what I love to do and do it, regardless of any external disappointments because these so called outside things happen regardless.

What I need to learn is not to take it personally, reacting is so unnecessary,  and continue to do what I do! See, if I actually wrote about this weeks ago and wrote what I felt perhaps I could have avoided a three-week gap on this blog….I apologize and hope to do better.

This little bit of writing has inspired me to write more and want you all to know that I will be posting also on SquareKat here   go check it out; enjoy.    If you want to view my poetry, my poetry blog is here!  Enjoy!

 I promised Stuffed Peppers …ooh were they good!

Stuffed Peppers

Print Friendly Recipe

1 small onion diced or chopped

2 small Carrots diced or 1 large Carrot diced

1 large Celery diced

2 lbs. of chop meat

6 cups of Tomato sauce (that has been cooked or prepared) I use a Marinara Sauce click herefor recipe

1 egg

½ of cup Parmesan cheese (a little of extra to sprinkle on top)

1/3 cup of breadcrumbs

2/3 cup of frozen peas

1 cup of cooked white rice (for quick and easy rice I use the boil in bag rice 10 minutes it is done)

In a skillet, add one Tablespoon of olive oil heat that to medium heat add onions, carrots, and celery, cook until soft tender about 7 to 10 minutes.  Add your chop meat, it does not matter what kind of chop meat you use, you can use a meatloaf blend; a chuck or sirloin 95%, 80% whatever is your preference is fine.

Brown the chop meat, season with a pinch of salt and black pepper as it is cooking , break it apart once it is cooked, you need to drain the fat that has accumulated.  Place it back on the stove on a very low heat, start adding your ingredients.

2 cups of tomato sauce, add your cheese, 1 egg beaten, bread crumbs. Mix it all together, it should be thick but moist as you are mixing the stuffing it needs to be able to bind well, if not you may add little more breadcrumbs and cheese,  next add the frozen peas and rice, keep stirring and mixing. Once that is done you may taste it and decide if you need to add more salt and black pepper.

Prepping the peppers – the peppers I brought last time were red peppers because they were on sale at 99 cents a lb. going through them I only could find longer peppers, as opposed to shorter stout peppers so I decided, still doable,  instead of stuffing a whole one I will stuff a half pepper.

Short Green Pepper and Long Red Pepper

I cut the peppers in half, removing the stem and seeds rinsed them clean. On the bottom of a large baking dish, 9 x 13 add 2 cups of sauce; one by one stuff each pepper. I had ten halves and enough stuffing, as you stuff each pepper place in the baking dish. Topped each pepper with sauce and sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on them. I added a ½ cup of water at the bottom of the baking dish; cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, bake at 350 for about  45 minutes uncover the peppers and cook for another  15 minutes or until peppers are slightly tender.   Serve on the side a salad and Italian bread heated or fresh from the bakery.