Stuffed Peppers

I am so insanely lucky I have such a kind and supportive husband! I don't know how I would have made it through this month without him! I have finished off my insane work stint and topped off at 30 days straight working without a day off. However I ended that stint with a night spent in the ER with agonizing back pain. That is also not a night I would have survived without my husband who was so caring and patient. So I got the following day off, and then went back to work before getting another day off during which I did absolutely nothing. However starting next week I will have two whole days off. I'll have regularly scheduled days off again and will have time to actually cook myself. So this should be about the last guest post recipe for a while. Today's recipe is also from my husband, and our adorable niece, Gabby, will make an appearance. Some of the photo credit also goes to my brother-in-law, Clint, who helped take pictures. I was gone for the entirety of this process, but am writing this up because my husband isn't terribly wordy. The pictures are a bit different than I would usually do them, but we'll make it work, eh?

Ingredients:
5 Bell Peppers (One per person - This makes enough filling for more than 5 bell peppers)
Ground Beef (1 lbs)
Rice
Canned Tomatoes (1 petite diced, 1 petite diced with Italian Seasoning, 1 petite diced with chilies; chose for your own preference. You may only need 2 cans, we had lots of extra filling)
Onion
Garlic
Salt & Pepper

Cut the top off your bell pepper and remove the core.

I.e. the white stuff and the seeds.

Par-boil the bottom half of your bell pepper, about 10 minutes.

Once they have been par-boiled and drained of water place them in a baking dish like my pyrex dish here.

You can now set these aside and get started on your filling.

You will need rice. You can either prepare rice in a rice cooker, or do it my way. I toss my rice into boiling water and let it cook like pasta for around 10 minutes, depending on which rice you use, and then drain it like you would drain pasta. Either way, cook about 1 - 1 1/2 cup's worth of dry rice with your preferred method.

While your rice is cooking you can saute your diced onion in a bit of oil or butter, then add in your ground beef and garlic, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

When your beef is browned all the way you can drain it in a colander.

Add in your cooked rice.

Get your canned tomatoes ready. You can see, my husband used different types of tomatoes.

You then add your canned tomatoes.

Mix this all well. The filling can be made ahead of time, which is what my husband did.

When you're ready to make your peppers preheat your oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Start stuffing your peppers. Featuring our niece, Gabby, helping out.

Just fill them up, so they are equally full.

Now go ahead and put the tops "lids" on and stick them into the oven for around 15 minutes, just enough time to heat everything thoroughly.

My husband then served them on a bed of salad in our individual casserole dishes.

Isn't he fancy?


Quickie Summary:

Ingredients:
5 Bell Peppers (One per person - This makes enough filling for more than 5 bell peppers)
Ground Beef (1 lbs)
Rice
Canned Tomatoes (1 petite diced, 1 petite diced with Italian Seasoning, 1 petite diced with chilies; chose for your own preference. You may only need 2 cans, we had lots of extra filling)
Onion
Garlic
Salt & Pepper

Cut the tops off your bell peppers.
Decore and deseed the peppers.
Parboil for approximately 10 minutes.
Set aside.

Cook 1 - 1 1/2 cups of rice.

Saute diced onions.
Add garlic.
Brown ground beef.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Drain meat.

Mix meat, rice, and canned tomatoes.

Stuff bell peppers, and place the tops back onto your bell peppers.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until thoroughly heated through.

Serve.

Pork Fried Rice

Fried Rice is one of my signature dishes. It's the one thing that we always eat all the leftovers of. I'm not that great at eating the leftovers most of the time, but this is the one time that I always want them!
So, shall we get started then?

Ingredients:
Rice (I prefer jasmine rice)
Pork (I use pork chops when I can)
Water Chestnuts (optional)
Eggs
Slivered Almonds (You can use whole, but I like the slivered better)
Ginger (fresh, you can also use powdered, I sometimes supplement with it, but don't substitute the fresh completely)
Soy Sauce (I prefer low sodium)
Rice Vinegar
Worchester Sauce
Toasted Sesame Seed Oil
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Maggi Sauce (if you can get it, but not necessary)

Got all your stuff together? OK, lets get started!

Get your meat out and lay it all out so you can season it.

Now season the meat with the cayenne, salt, pepper,and paprika.

Also cut up some of your ginger into little bits, or grate it.

Preheat your pot or sauce pan with some peanut oil. (Peanut oil is a good choice because it can handle the highest heat.)
Now throw your meat seasoned side down into the pot and add the ginger.

Now season that side too.

Sear them on both sides, and then dump in a bunch of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame seed oil, worchester sauce, and maggi. It'll boil down somewhat and infuse everything with the flavors. Lower the heat to medium to cook your meat.

I get the meat out and cut it into bite sized cubes, before returning it to the sauce to finish cooking. This also gives it more of the flavors.

Cut them up.

Return it to your pot:

While that is cooking, I add the sliced water chestnuts so they can soak up some of that flavor. I like the crunchiness with the great flavor.

Take the rest of the ginger and grate or chop it up. I use my mini cuisinart. Ginger is a very fibrous root. So if you are going to chop it up into grated consistency, you should cut the pieces across the grain like this:

Get your wok out. Preheat it with the  peanut oil. Until it reaches almost smoking point. While it's preheating beat up your eggs like you would for scrambled eggs. Pour into the wok, break them up, and let them cook.

Remove the cooked eggs and reserve them on a plate that has paper towels on it so they can absorb the excess oil.

If the eggs have depleted the oil in your wok, add some more and ensure it has preheated. I toss in two chili peppers if I have them. Then dump in your grated ginger:

Then add your almonds and let them get golden brown.

Ok, so if I was a normal person, I would add my rice to the wok, and then add all the other ingredients, and yay. However I am not a normal person, and I doubt there is a wok made for my needs. Also I am a weak feeble girly girl, so what actually happens is that I throw everything into the biggest pot I have. Add a ton of soy sauce, more sesame oil, and a bunch of rice vinegar. Then I yell: "HOOONEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY!" And then I make him stir and stir and stir. Season to taste. 

Oh, goodness! This is indeed one of my absolute favorite foods. It's also as customizable as you want it to be. Add green onions, add different meats (I've made it with ground elk before too), add whatever sounds good to you.

I also always provide soy sauce and rice vinegar when I serve it. I tend to want more of both in my rice so I season a bit under, that way everyone can customize as they want.

Kung Pow Chicken

Today I made kung pow chicken (also known as gong bao ji ding in Chinese I believe) for dinner. Partially because I love to cook, and partially because I was avoiding reading my textbook. haha I thought I'd just share some pictures and the recipe.

So here is my recipe:

Marinade:

1 lb chicken 

2 T cornstarch 

2 T soysauce 

2 T wine (white)

1 eggwhite

Beat cornstarch into liquids, then add egg white, then meat

Marinate meat for 20 min before cooking

Heat oil to smoking

Throw in 15-20 deseeded red peppers (hot peppers)

Add marinated meat

2 ‘’ peeled and grated Ginger

2 – 4 Green onions

And ½ - 1 c almonds

Add sauce:

2 T wine (white)

2 T soy sauce

1 T rice vinegar

2 t sugar

2 t cornstarch

1 T sesame oil (toasted sesame oil)

Here's what your chicken will look like in the marinade:

Make sure you have rice ready! I prefer jasmine rice, and then I boil and cook it like pasta, instead of the cooking technique more common in the US. I tend to feel like the rice has a better texture my way. Otherwise it's often one big sticky glob.

Also make sure you have your ginger ready and on the side:

Have your sauce prepared and ready in a bowl too:

Don't you love my adorable rainbow whisk?

It really is best to cook the meat in a wok, otherwise it has a tendency to be greasy since you don't need nearly as much oil if cooking with a wok:

Serve next to the rice or on top of it, depending on your preference:

See how the rice is light and not all clumped together? 

You may also notice, that my dish does not have the green onions in it. That's because I am pretty allergic to onions and get really sick if I eat anything in that family.