Stuffed Peppers

28 Sep

I got a lot of peppers this week in my basket.  We aren’t big pepper fans in this house, but I wanted to do something else besides just chopping them and adding them to stir fry.  So, I decided to try stuffed peppers. I got a recipe from a friend of mine, then looked up a couple other recipes, and came up with this.

Stuffed Peppers

4-6 peppers, tops and seeds removed
1 cup cooked rice
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (Or any flavored tomatoes.  If you use plain tomatoes, you will want to add some kind of seasoning)
1 egg
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce (I used Ragu Traditional sauce)
1 cup water

Mix the rice, ground beef, onion, tomatoes, egg, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.  Fill the peppers with the stuffing, making it level with the top of the pepper.  Add filled peppers to a large saucepan.  In a separate bowl, combine tomato sauce and water.  Pour over the peppers in the saucepan.

Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer.  Cover, and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until meat is fully cooked and peppers have softened.

I cut open a pepper to make sure mine were done, and they were!

Note: This can be done in your slow cooker instead.  Place the peppers in your slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours.

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Chinese Napa Cabbage Salad

27 Sep

As soon as I saw the Asian themed veggie pack was available from Bountiful Baskets, I was seriously hoping that Napa cabbage would be included.  I was craving Chinese Napa Cabbage Salad, and once I found out it was in there, I got the rest of the ingredients I needed ready.

What you need:

  • 2 (3 ounce) packages chicken flavored ramen noodles, crushed
  • 1 seasoning packet from the ramen noodles
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1 Napa cabbage, shredded
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped
  • 1 rotisserie chicken, chicken removed from the bone (optional)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1/8 cup white sugar
How to make it:
Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium-low heat.  Melt butter and add crush noodles.  Cook until golden brown.  Add in toasted sesame seeds and 1 of the seasoning packets from the ramen noodles, stir thoroughly.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, add cabbage, green onion, chicken (if using) and the cooled noodle and sesame seed mixture and mix.  Set aside.  Mix together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl.  Pour this over the cabbage mix and toss.  Serve immediately.

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Japanese Eggplant Teriyaki

27 Sep
I have been working through the Asian themed veggie pack I got with Bountiful Baskets and decided to first figure out what to do with the eggplant.  I came across a few recipes for Japanese Eggplant Teriyaki, and decided that would be it.  The tricky part was that I only had 1 eggplant, but most recipes called for 4-5.  So, I scaled back the ingredients as best I could, but I still think I had too much of the liquids in the pan with the eggplant.  However, it still turned out pretty tasty.
Japanese Eggplant Teriyaki
  • 1 lb Japanese eggplant, about 4-6
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 -3 drops sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup mirin
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ginger root, grated
  • toasted sesame seeds
  1. Cut the eggplants into 1/2″ slices and soak in water for 10-15 minutes. Drain and dry them.
  2. Heat a large non-stick skillet and add the vegetable oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and ginger.  Place the eggplant slices in the skillet and cook the eggplant slices on both sides until tender.
  3. Remove from heat and add to serving dish.  Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve.

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BLTs on Ciabatta

26 Sep

Each week, Bountiful Baskets usually offers some kind of bread.  9 grain bread is available pretty much every week, then sometimes other weeks there are various other types of bread that have been available, honey whole wheat, organic multi-grain, organic whole wheat, Italian olive oil, sourdough, rye, foccacia, and ciabatta.  I have bought every kind and have never been disappointed.  Best part, they freeze great.  In fact, in my freezer right now, I have 4 9 grain loaves, 1 sourdough loaf, and 2 ciabatta loaves.  Since I got iceberg lettuce and tomatoes in Bountiful Baskets over the weekend, plus turkey bacon was on sale at the commissary ($1.37 package!), so I decided it was time to use a ciabatta bread from the freezer.  BLTs.  Perfect lunch for Sunday!

What I used:

1 package turkey bacon, cooked according to package directions
1 loaf ciabatta bread, cut into 3 sections, each section cut in half lengthwise
Butter
Garlic powder
1 tomato, sliced
3 sections of iceberg lettuce, sandwich sized
Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Rotisserie Seasoned Chicken Breast deli meat
Miracle Whip

First, I started cooking the bacon.  While that was going, I buttered the ciabatta bread and sprinkled garlic powder on it. I placed it butter sides down on a griddle on medium-low heat to toast it.  Once it was toasted, I put it on a plate, then put the chicken deli meat, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, and Miracle Whip on, making the perfect sandwich.  If I’d had it, I would have put sliced swiss cheese on as well, but it was still good as it was.

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Fish Tacos with Avocado Cream Sauce

26 Sep

This is a great recipe I got from Lori over at My Kinda Rain.  Since I get tortillas and the Mexican themed veggie pack regularly from Bountiful Baskets, this has become a regular in our house when avocados are available and cheap.  I have played around with this recipe a bit, I don’t think I’ve made it the same way twice, but every time it has turned out great.  So, I will go through the recipe and talk about some of the alternatives I have done.

First, you make an avocado cream sauce.  For this you need:

1 avocado
1/2 cup sour cream
Lime juice
Onion (I’ve used yellow, red, or green, I think my favorite is red onion)

I now also on occasion add:

Garlic, minced or garlic salt, usually 1/4 to 1/2 tsp
Cilantro
Tomato, diced

This time, I used all of the above when making the sauce because I had cilantro and tomato on hand that needed to be used before it went bad.

Next, you cook the fish.  You need 1 lb of white fish, I use either cod or tilapia, depending on what I can get on sale.  You add 1-2 Tbsp of oil, I use olive oil, to a skillet.  Season the fish with lemon pepper seasoning and pan fry fish.

Cook until fish is no longer translucent and easily flakes with a fork.  Flake fish apart with a fork.

Next, you put together the tacos.  I usually use small flour tortillas, but have used small corn tortillas as well.  I add a tortilla to a small skillet, then put the fish, avocado cream sauce, and cabbage or lettuce.

I fold the tortilla over the topping, cook it for a few minutes, then flip and cook for a few minutes, until both sides are just starting to brown.

I usually serve this with Spanish rice and black beans.  I was worried that my girls wouldn’t eat these because it has fish, but they both eat these up!

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Roasted Broccoli

25 Sep

I have been meaning to try this for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to it.  So, when I needed to find sides for the teriyaki chicken I had marinading to grill, I remembered the broccoli in the fridge I needed to use.  Add in some brown rice, and it was a perfect meal.  How do I know?  Both girls ate some of everything, mostly the broccoli!

Roasted Broccoli

1 bunch broccoli (about 1.5 lbs)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
Garlic salt

Cut broccoli into bite-size florets.  Add to a bowl, toss with the olive oil and season with garlic salt to your taste.  Line a baking sheet with foil and add seasoned broccoli to the baking sheet.  Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender and starting to brown.

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Basket Breakdown 9/24/2011

25 Sep

I was impressed with this week’s basket.  Lots of good things.  I got the conventional basket for $15, the Asian themed veggie add-on for $8.50, and 5 loaves of 9 grain bread for $10, plus the $1.50 handling fee, so $35 total.  Here is what we got, first picture shows the conventional basket and 9 grain bread, second picture shows the Asian themed veggie add-on.

Conventional Basket- 9/24/2011

9 grain bread, pineapple, green grapes, bananas, nectarines, Gala apples, apple pears, black plums, iceberg lettuce, green peppers, red peppers, cucumbers, yellow onions, and Roma tomatoes

Asian Themed veggie pack - 9/24/2011

Daikon, Napa cabbage, bok choy, lemongrass, green onion, Japanese eggplant, garlic, ginger root, basil

I was able to get out to Walmart and Fry’s to get some price comparisons, at least for the things I could find.  I did not price the bread, but I know to get bread comparable to this 9 grain would be $3-$4 a loaf, and I’m only paying $2 a loaf. I was able to get prices for everything in the conventional basket, but the veggie pack was a little bit tougher.  The price for the Japanese eggplant is the price for a regular eggplant, I figured they would be about the same.  The lemongrass price was from a tube of lemongrass I found at Walmart, I found a price per pound based on the price and size of the tube.  Daikon, I did not find at either store.

Item

Qty

WM Price

WM Total

Fry’s Price

Fry’s Total
Pineapple (ea)

1.00

$2.98

$2.98

$3.99

$3.99
Bananas (lb)

3.06

$0.56

$1.71

$0.57

$1.74
Gala Apples (lb)

1.67

$1.57

$2.62

$1.29

$2.15
Nectarines (lb)

2.88

$1.03

$2.97

$1.88

$5.41
Apple Pears (ea)

4.00

$1.47

$5.88

$1.49

$5.96
Plums (lb)

2.57

$1.48

$3.80

$1.88

$4.83
Grapes (lb)

2.65

$1.88

$4.98

$1.98

$5.25
Iceberg lettuce (ea)

1.00

$1.14

$1.14

$1.18

$1.18
Cucumbers (ea)

2.00

$0.50

$1.00

$0.59

$1.18
Red peppers (ea)

4.00

$1.78

$7.12

$0.88

$3.52
Green peppers (ea)

3.00

$0.50

$1.50

$0.59

$1.77
Yellow Onion (lb)

2.20

$1.23

$2.70

$0.78

$1.72
Roma tomatoes (lb)

1.58

$0.98

$1.55

$0.90

$1.42

$39.95

$40.13
Item

Qty

WM Price

WM Total

Fry’s Price

Fry’s Total
Green onion (ea)

3.00

$0.56

$1.68

$0.50

$1.50
Garlic

0.12

$3.48

$0.42

$0.59

$0.59
Napa cabbage (lb)

2.21

$0.94

$2.08

$0.99

$2.19
Bok choy (lb)

2.05

$0.94

$1.93

$0.99

$2.03
Japanese eggplant

1.00

$1.98

$1.98

$1.49

$1.49
Basil

0.11

$24.83

$2.73

$0.00
Ginger

0.08

$2.80

$0.22

$0.00
Lemongrass

0.13

$15.12

$1.97

$0.00
Daikon

4.76

$0.00

$0.00

$13.00

$7.80

Again this week, I am impressed with the savings.  I paid $15 for $40 in produce in my conventional basket.  While I wasn’t able to get all the prices for the veggie add-on pack, I’m at $13 before the daikon, so I would estimate that overall it would be $15-$16 total.  Then, with the savings on bread I mentioned, I’m estimating I’m at about 50% savings again, which I am very happy with since produce savings is so difficult.

Note: Prices are from stores in southeastern AZ, prices may vary in other locations.  The weight of food may vary from another basket because of variances in how the ends of produce cases are distributed after everything has been distributed evenly.

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Toddler School – Week 2

24 Sep

This week for Toddler School we had a few extras, my friend was watching a 3-year-old and 1-year-old, plus another friend with a 2-year-old decided to join our weekly learning adventures.  Even though it was a little chaotic, we still got through a few activities.

First, we started with coloring a Letter B worksheet that I created.  I also brought some toys that start with the letter B, a bird, a bear, a baby, and a book.

Then, we went outside to do the color match activity with the foam shapes that we did last week.  However, instead of the water beads, I filled the tubs with bird seed.  We chose bird seed because we knew it would be messy, so we wanted to do this outside, but were worried about not getting all the rice picked up and didn’t want the birds to get rice.  Plus, bird seed starts with B, so it fit in with the letter B theme.


That activity got a little out of control, with bird seed all over, so we moved on to pipe cleaner activities.  First, I got out the beads to work on motor skills by getting the beads on the pipe cleaners.  We tried to do some color matching with this, matching bead and pipe cleaner color, but focused more on just getting the beads on.  That was challenging enough for little hands!  Next, we got out a plastic strainer with holes to make pipe cleaner rainbows.

After that, we just played and watched a movie until it was time to get the big kids.  We have some fun things planned already for next week!

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Sesame Chicken

24 Sep

I found this recipe in a healthier eating cookbook a while back and it was an instant hit in our house.  I have made it so often that I have the recipe memorized!  It is a lot lighter than sesame chicken you find at restaurants; this doesn’t have the heavy breading and the chicken is cooked in a small amount of oil, not deep-fried.  I actually prefer this a lot more to restaurant sesame chicken.

Sesame Chicken

1/4 cup unbleached flour or all-purpose flour
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2″-4″ strips
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Veggies of your choice
Cooked rice

Place flour and chicken in a gallon size zipper bag.  Shake to coat chicken in flour.  Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken to the skillet in batches and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until white and no longer pink. Transfer to a plate.
Reduce the heat to medium. Combine the soy sauce and sugar in the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Add the chicken and stir to coat.

Add in any chopped veggies you want.  For this batch, I used just broccoli.  Other times I have used different combinations of broccoli, onion, green, yellow, and red peppers, shredded carrots, bean sprouts, snow peas, water chestnuts, and mushrooms.  Cover your skillet and cook until veggies have softened.  I tend to leave the veggies a little crispy still because my husband likes them still crispy.

 Serve over cooked rice.

Note: You can buy toasted sesame seeds, usually with in the section with other Asian grocery items.  If you can’t find them, to toast sesame seeds, place in a dry skillet and toast, shaking the pan, over medium high heat for a minute or so, or until fragrant and lightly browned. Do this first and cook the chicken in the same skillet to pick up more sesame flavor.  Also, if you are using a lot of veggies, you may want to double the ingredients for the sesame coating so there is some for the veggies.

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National Child Passenger Safety Week Wrap-up

23 Sep

In case you missed it, this week I posted information about car seat safety for children. Here are links to all of the information I posted.

National Child Passenger Safety Week Sept 18 – 24, 2011: http://wp.me/p1ORT6-3I

Four Steps for Kids: Rear-Facing Car Seats: http://wp.me/p1ORT6-3T

Four Steps for Kids: Forward-Facing Car Seats: http://wp.me/p1ORT6-43

Four Steps for Kids:  Booster Seats: http://wp.me/p1ORT6-4e

Four Steps for Kids: Seat Belts: http://wp.me/p1ORT6-4j

Vehicle crashes continue to be leading cause of death for children in the U.S. Please take the time today to make sure the children in your life have an appropriate car seat for their age, height, and weight, have a car seat that is installed properly and have a car seat that is used properly every time they are in the car. If you aren’t sure, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, find out if there is a seat check tomorrow, September 24 for National Seat Check Saturday, or set up a visit with a technician in your area (www.seatcheck.org).  Another great resource is the forums at Car-Seat.org.  There are many knowledgeable people there, as well as reviews and measurements of various car seats.  Also, please feel free to pass this information along to anyone that would benefit from reading it.

Thank you for reading!

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