STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

I love making stuffed foods.  They are so all inclusive, meaning thats all you have to serve for a meal.  Along with some good crusty bread.  These peppers are so easy to prepare plus the ingredients are not too expensive.

Cut off the tops of the peppers.

 

 

Then remove the seeds.  Take the tops and dice into pieces.  You can either use these later in the recipe or put into a baggie to use for another recipe.

 

 

Bring a large kettle of water to a boil and drop the peppers in.  Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

 

Remove the peppers from the boiling water with a pair of tongs.

And drain them upside down on a paper towel.

 

Dice up 1/2 cup onion, 1/2 cup celery and 1/2 cup green pepper.  (This is where I use the tops)

Also chop up one medium sized tomato.  Set all of your chopped veggies aside.

 

You will need 2 cups of cooked rice.  I love using this organic long grain rice.  It has such a good flavor.  You can use minute rice or even brown or wild rice, just so you have two cups of cooked rice.

 

 

OK now to the meat.  Brown one pound of hamburger.

 

   

Add the chopped celery, onions and peppers.  I had about a half cup of shredded carrots in the fridge so I dumped them in.  They’re not called for but I needed to use them up.  Stir this together and let it cook for a few minutes.

 

   

Now add the diced tomatoes, the cooked rice and 1/4 cup of ketchup.  Salt & pepper to taste. 

Stir this all together and cook for a couple minutes.  Look at all those pretty colors!  This makes an awesome meal in itself!

 

Place the peppers into a deep baking dish so they don’t tip over.  This recipe makes four large peppers but I am doubling it, thus the reason for eight peppers in the dish.  Fill the peppers with the meat mixture and press down.

 

Top off each one with an extra spoonful.  The lighting here is terrible, I had lost my daylight.  But you get the drift of what to do.

 

In a small bowl, combine an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and  one Tablespoon of sugar. 

 

 

Add 1/2 tsp of dried basil leaves.  Stir this together.

 

 

Spoon half the sauce over the peppers.  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

 

Spoon remaining sauce over peppers and sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Bake another five minutes.  I made a double batch and froze the ones we didn’t eat.  They are so easy to take out of the freezer and warm up.  (And the carrots worked great in these)

 

STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

4 large green peppers

2 cups cooked rice

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 medium tomato, chopped

1/4 cup ketchup

1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Parboil the peppers and drain on paper toweling.  Brown ground beef and add the onion, celery and peppers.  Let cook for about five minutes.  Add the tomato, cooked rice and ketchup.  Simmer for a couple of minutes. 

Stuff peppers with hamburger mixture.  Combine the tomato sauce, sugar and basil leaves.  Spoon half of the sauce over peppers and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Spoon remaining sauce over them and top with the shredded cheese.  Bake an additional five minutes.

 

THE LAW OF RECIPROCITY

Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you.  Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.  For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.    Luke 6:37-38

Barbeques

Requested by:  Joni Rae
We live in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where we are often referred to as hicks.  This is not far from Upper Michigan  where the people are known as Yoopers.  Up in this area this dish is called a barbeque. I think its an up North thing.   Some may call it a sloppy joe.  Our relatives in southern Iowa don’t call it a barbeque or a sloppy joe, to them its a made-right.  No matter what you call it, they are delicious!  It’s an easy hamburger dish that feeds a lot of people.  When we have company for the weekend I like to make these ahead of time and have it on hand for a quick and easy lunch.

Here’s what you will need:  hamburger, onion, celery, tomato soup, vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, chili powder, salt & pepper

Brown two pounds of ground beef in a skillet. 

I like to use this fun gadget to chop the hamburger up into little pieces.  We like it that way.  Have I ever told you I am addicted to kitchen gadgets?  I did discover that I may need that thingy that makes cute lemon curls.  Anyone know where I can get one?  Anyway back to the recipe……

Take two stalks of celery and one medium sized onion.  You can chop them up into pieces or if you have finicky eaters in your house who panic when they see something that might resemble an onion in their food try this:  Put them into a blender or food processor, add a little water and liquify them.

It turns into a thick green liquid.  Pour it into your hamburger and stir it in.

It will literally disappear into the meat.  Whalla!  No more onions or celery for them to pick out!

Now add two cans of tomato soup.  I just use two pints of my home canned tomato soup.   Here’s how to make your own soup:
http://dpoydafoodfrenzy.blogspot.com/2009/10/tomato-soup.html.

Stir in 2 Tablespoons brown sugar.

And 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar.

And 2 Tablespoons of ketchup, I may have more like half a cup here.  We like the ketchup.

Now season it with 2 teaspoons of chili powder, a teaspoon of salt and some pepper.

Let this simmer for at least an hour.  The flavors really come together with this hour of cooking.  And it thickens up nicely.

Served on a fresh homemade bun along with a russian dill pickle, its a perfect lunch.
And one last photo:

Hannah was back in the kitchen with me.  She loves taking pictures of herself with the camera.  I wonder which auntie showed her how to do that!

Barbeque
2 lbs ground beef
1 onion
2 stalks celery
2 cans tomato soup
2 tsp chili powder
2 T vinegar
2 T brown sugar
2 T ketchup
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour. 1 Peter 5:8

CHILI

I think Melissa has called and asked me for the chili recipe about 800 times so its time I posted it.
Making chili soup can be very controversial. There is always the question of is it really chili if there are noodles in it. It looks like Brians chili is non-noodle. I like it either way but we grew up eating it with noodles. I think that with eight kids in the family, the noodles made it go farther. So if you are a non-noodle chili person, just add some more beans and leave out the pasta.

Start out by crumbling a pound and a half of ground beef into a frying pan. I’ll feel better if you use the same pan you fried eggs in for breakfast and didn’t wash it.

Take a large onion.

And dice into pieces.

The hamburger should be nicely browned.

Dice up three stalks of celery

And add these to the hamburger. I love these food scrapers!

Add about 1Tablespoon of salt.

Here’s the part where you have to make a decision. You can either use two large cans of diced tomatoes or I like to use my own canned tomatoes.Also add a quart of water to the pan.

Then add two cans of chili beans and one can of Bush’s beans. I usually use the plain Bush beans but didn’t have any. These grillin ones were really good!

Now add one can of tomato soup. Here again, I use my home canned tomato soup. Have you ever made this stuff? I got the recipe from my daughters mother-in-law or my son-in-law’s mother. I’ll share it with you all this fall when I make 50 jars of the stuff.

Pour in 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 Tablespoon of chili powder. Add more if you like it spicier. You can pour in some tabasco sauce if you want to heat it up a bit.

By now your hamburger mixture should be cooked up. Go ahead and dump it into your large kettle of tomato base.

Now I like to let this simmer on really low heat for a couple hours. It really helps the flavor and thickens it up.

Ok here comes the controversy. I cooked up one cup of pasta and added them to the soup. If you have different opinions about this you can always cook up the noodles and serve them on the side for people to add as they like.

Add a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese and eat!
CHILI SOUP
1 1/2 lbs hamburger
1 onion
3 stalks celery
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 cans chili beans
1 quart water
1 can Bush’s beans
1 can tomato soup
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon chili powder
2 Teaspoons sugar
1 cup macaroni noodles, cooked and drained
Brown hamburger. Add onions and celery and let simmer. Pour tomatoes, beans, and tomato soup into a large kettle. Add salt, chili powder and sugar. Simmer on low heat for a couple hours. Add noodles if desired.
He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22