 Another comfort meal my husband and I enjoy is stuffed peppers. I took my late mother-in-law's recipe and tweaked it a bit for something a bit more modern and flavorful. No offense to my late mother-in-law, but a good marinara sauce is better than a can of plain tomato sauce. Nancy’s Stuffed Peppers for Two 2 small, wide green bell peppers 1 pound ground beef Salt and pepper to taste Garlic powder ¼ to ½ cup plain breadcrumbs 24 oz. jar of your favorite marinara sauce or homemade tomato sauce Remove stems and any large ribs from peppers. Place peppers in sauce pan deep enough so that the peppers are surrounded, but not submerged in water. Parboil peppers in water for 3-5 minutes. Remove peppers from water, drain and cool. Add ground beef and brown. Season the meat to taste with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add enough breadcrumbs to thicken mixture, do not exceed ½ cup. Spray a tall casserole dish with cooking spray. Place peppers upright in casserole and fill with ground beef. Pour in enough marinara to cover peppers and allow a little sauce in the bottom of casserole. Bake peppers at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until hot in the center. You can insert a knife into the center of peppers to test doneness. I serve over a bed of rice or you can serve alone with crusty bread to soak up sauce. Donna’s Notes: Feel free to use minced fresh garlic instead of powder, but sauté it first. Try using sautéed onions in the filling or flavored breadcrumbs. Experiment with the recipe to create your own version of stuffed peppers. 
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 Thank goodness the holidays are almost over. Tonight I work the closing shift, i.e. 4 to 10 p.m. I need a meal that's quick, tasty and easy to prepare. I know that we had pork recently, however, it's on the menu again. Tonight it's pork tenderloin with maple glaze from Buon Appétit Magazine October 2000. The recipe is done on the stovetop and under 30 minutes. You can't beat that!
You can pick up a family pack (four pork tenderloins/2 per package) at Wegmans for $2.99/lb.  Today, like all others, we're up at 5 a.m. Our dog doesn't know what it means to sleep in or late for that matter. However, I had to go to Essex county today to take my aunt to two doctor's appointments. I left just before 9 a.m. and got home after 3 p.m.
 The end of the holiday shopping season is almost at hand. I've been making lists and making sure I get things done on time and what needs to go my daughter's on Sunday.
Since I had yesterday off, I accomplished some preparations for Christmas dinner. I made my daughter's favorite cookie, Italian sesame seed. It made a nice small batch of cookies that I'll share with her. Today I hope to make a batch of cocoa snowflakes cookies. They are a rich, fudgy, chocolately cookie that is to die for!  It's a challenge this year to prepare a holiday meal. I'm working Christmas Eve and I need to be organized to pull this off. To further add to the challenge, we're having dinner at my daughter and son-in-law's house, about 30 minutes north of us.
I've already sent them home with extra tables, a crock pot, frozen boneless short ribs and some condiments for dinner. What's for dinner you ask?  If I only had the time! My husband was web surfing one night and came across this video for dressing up the holiday table by transforming your napkins into Christmas trees. I wonder if my daughter has time to do this for me?
Image courtesy of Google images  I can't wait until this holiday shopping season is over! I find I'm unable to focus during the day because I'm doing chores around the house, trying to squeeze in a gym visit and then make sure supper is ready for husband and I. Therefore, for the past week or so, I haven't been able to "daily dish."
 My late aunts, Chick and Fran, found a recipe for Italian biscotti in a newspaper. Both have passed away, but they taught me how to make the most delicious Italian biscotti. The biscotti have anise seed and for the nuts in this recipe, I use ground almonds.
 With Christmas here in 17 days, I haven't even started my holiday baking. Since I started working in retail one and half years ago, it's almost like your time isn't yours. If I have to work, I feel like I have to squeeze in as much as I can before I go to work, or things won't get done.
 As I previously mentioned in this blog, my husband and I don't eat much red meat. However, last week I was craving some beef. Again, I dug through my recipe files and I found another recipe which I haven't made in forever. The recipe was stir-fried beef and broccoli from the October 1999 issue of Gourmet Magazine.
As I was near Wegmans last week, I popped in to pick up the main ingredients for this dish, which were boneless sirloin and fresh broccoli. I purchased a small package of that was labeled half bonless sirloin, that was over $5/lb. Just a note, I was at Foodtown yesterday and they had boneless top round for stir fry that was $4.99/lb. |
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