Easy Stuffed Green Peppers and Writing for Joplin:

"Easy Stuffed Green Peppers"

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

This is a super easy dinner to make.  You can use any kind of pepper that you like, I suppose, but the green ones are mild.  Just cook up a box of Rice-A-Roni (I used the beef flavor).  In another pan, cook up a pound of hamburger, some diced onions and some fresh mushrooms.  Drain off the grease and add the hamburger mixture to the rice.

Cut the stem off of the pepper, scoop out the seeds and inside remnants with a spoon.  Fill the pepper with your hamburger/rice mixture and place them in a deep dish with a cover.  Instead of water, place some apple juice in the bottom of your dish if you have any.  This will help steam the peppers and add a bit of flavor. 

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

You can add a slice of cheese on top if you want to, but I didn't this time.  Cook at 350* for around 45 minutes, or until the peppers are tender and the filling is hot.  In this case, I made the filling ahead of time and put it in the fridge.  Doing that made it easier to work with, but that isn't necessary.

Enjoy!

My friend Lynn, over at Present Letters, has been volunteering her computer time lately to help the Joplin Tornado victims.  A couple of days ago, Lynn announced on her blog about a current project for Midwestern writers and poets to submit their work that will go into a book to benefit storm victims.  The book is scheduled to come out in August, so you'll need to act fast!  Read more about this by clicking here  "Storm Country Anthology".  Thanks, Lynn, for all that you are doing to help others! 

Hope that everybody has a great week!  Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving me your comments.  Speaking of comments, are you guys having a hard time on leaving comments on Blogger?  I haven't for several weeks, but if you can't leave comments on here, can you please email me at  "oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com"  and let me know?  My friend Arkansas Patti just did a post about this today, and she has some suggestions about this very problem:   Quickie: "Blocked Off"


~ Kathy

If you miss a day, you miss a lot!  Don't miss out on the news ... Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today. 

Easy Crock-Pot Scalloped Potatoes:

 Easy Crock-Pot Scalloped Potatoes

At the end of the week, I go through my fridge and decide what I am going to do with the leftovers.  This week, I was craving scalloped potatoes.  I used what I had, and would have added ham if there was any available, but this turned out delicious anyway:

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

My fresh mushrooms and already baked potatoes were my inspiration foods.  I figured that everything would cook faster if the potatoes were already done, and I was right:

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

I also used 6 green onions, 1/2 loaf of chedder cheese, 2 cups of frozen peas, 1 can of chicken broth and 1 large can of Cream of Mushroom soup.

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

And, these spices.  About a tablespoon of each spice was added to the pot below.  I warmed up the cream of mushroom soup, the chicken broth and the peas as I was chopping up the veggies.  I used around 10 medium sized baked potatoes, and around 2 cups of fresh mushrooms.

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

Then, I began to layer everything in the crock-pot:

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

I started with a bit of the soup/pea mixture on the bottom:

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

Then I added some sliced potatoes:

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

Some mushrooms and green onions:

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

Some cheese slices and more soup/pea mixture ...

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

And kept going until I used everything up:

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

I turned the crock-pot on high and cooked it for around three hours. 

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

Kathy Matthews, April 2011

It was super delicious.  This is the first time that I have used broth instead of milk with the cream of mushroom soup, and I think that was a great idea.  Remember, adding ham is another option.

If you want to bake it in the oven instead of using the crock-pot, I would suggest that you layer everything as shown above in a baking pan, cover it, and bake at about an hour-and a half at 350*.  If you are using aluminum foil as your cover, place the shiny side towards the food.  If you don't, it will slow down your cooking time, because the shiny side will reflect the heating elements.

If you use raw potatoes, slice them thin, and increase your cooking time in the oven until they are soft, probably around 2 hours.

Enjoy!

If you miss a day, you miss a lot!  Don't miss out on the news ... Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.

The Meat Bonanza and Results:

On Friday, I went to our local grocery store.  They were having a "Meat Bonanza", a huge sale.  I got all of that stuff above for around $90.00.  The steaks in front were buy one, get one free.  I chose one selection of beef and two of pork.  The butcher cut everything up for me and put it in those big bags.  I think that the beef bag was $27.00; one pork bag was $17.00, and the other was $15.00.  Cheap!

That set the rest of my day in motion though.  I had to figure out where to put all of that stuff, and my little freezer was already getting full.  I decided to go ahead and cook several meals at the same time, using 3 crock pots.

The butcher gave me some great cooking ideas.  He suggested that I slow cook the pork spareribs, and making it a Mexican dish, with cilantro, onions and peppers.  I also added a jar of salad dressing and some water.  I cooked this for about 12 hours, until the meat was soft and shredded.  I plan on using it to make enchiladas.  This made 3 1/2 quarts.  I know, because I poured it into canning jars and put them in the fridge for now.


I filled the second crock pot with pork spareribs and then added Buffalo BBQ Sauce and a bit of Honey BBQ Sauce.  I cooked it for around 10 hours, until, again, the meat was shredded.  I removed most of the meat, storing it in two small Ziplocks inside of a large one.  I have discovered that by doing this type of packaging, I reduce the chance of freezer burn, and have smaller packages of food for just the two of us.

After the meat was all cooked, I had this pot of BBQ sauce/shredded pork soup left over.  Instead of throwing it away, I added a small bag of navy beans, chopped onion and water.   I did not pre-soak the beans this time.  I cooked this until the beans were soft, about 5 hours.  The liquid was already boiling hot, so the beans cooked faster than usual for a crock pot.  I felt kind of proud of this recipe, because it was spur of the moment.  Homemade BBQ Pork and Beans.  Yum!

In my really big crock pot, I made pork chops in cream of mushroom gravy.  First, I seared the pork chops in a pan of hot Crisco (my new thing) and put them in the crock pot.  In a separate bowl, I combined 2 large cans of cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, ranch dressing and a package of fresh mushrooms.  That crock pot cooks faster, so those were done in about 4 hours.  We ate them that night when Darlene and Larry came over to listen to Tyler's game on the computer.  I froze the rest, but the meat was put into Ziplocks and the gravy was placed into freezer containers.  Now they are already to go for the next time.

The rest of the meat was repackaged into smaller portions and put into the freezer.  We are set for a while now!

~ Kathy

Crock Pot Roast and Other News:

Hey, you guys, how are ya?  I hope that you are looking forward to a nice weekend, wherever you live.  Mom is coming for a visit, and we will be listening to Tyler's game via modern technology on the computer this evening.  Tonight's game will actually be on t.v., but not where we are.  I think we are going up to the lake tomorrow to bring the boat home.  Otherwise, not much else is planned.

I am making more slide shows with my older photos.  It is another way to save them and an easy way for you newer readers to get a chance to view them.  This morning I am concentrating on my Newport, Oregon Coast pictures.

I made a really good roast yesterday in the crock pot.  I didn't take any pictures, but I'll tell you how I did it.  You will need the following ingredients:

1 boneless roast that will fit into your crock pot, 4 or 5 pounds 
2 cans of beer
1 packet of Au Jus mix
1 pound or so of baby carrots
1 large onion, wedged
3 large russet potatoes, wedged 
Some salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce

First, heat up some shortening in a good pan.  When the shortening is melted and really hot, put the roast in there.  Stand back and be prepared for grease splattering.  Sear (brown) on all sides.  This will keep the juices in the roast and make it better.

Put the roast in the crock pot and poke holes into it with a large cooking fork.   Turn the crock pot on high.  In a bowl, mix the beer and au jus mix, as best you can.  Beer tenderizes the meat, and the alcohol will be boiled out by the time the roast is done.  Pour this mixture over the top of the roast.  Spread out the carrots around the sides of the roast.  Lay the onion on top.  Cook for 8 hours or so, and then cut your potatoes into wedges and add them on top of the roast.  Sprinkle on salt, pepper and add several dashes of Worcestershire sauce.  Cook until the potatoes are soft, around another 1 1/2 hours.

When done, put everything on a serving platter or in a large casserole dish, cutting the meat into large slices.  Ours really didn't even slice, it was so soft it was in shreds.  It was so good!


Remember to leave a comment to enter the contest, even if you do not want to become an official follower.  The winner will be announced on Monday!

Take good care and have a blessed weekend, my blends.


~ Kathy