Inside out Stuffed Peppers

Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup

Made: February 15, 2012

Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
- 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
- 6 oz can tomato paste
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups chopped green pepper
- 2/3 cup uncooked rice (white or brown)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Ground black pepper to taste

Directions
- In a large skillet, cook ground beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until browned
- Drain any juices and transfer mixture to a slow cooker
- Add remaining ingredients and stir gently to mix
- Cook on low for 8-9 hours
- Add water to thin if necessary

I followed this one pretty much to the tee, until my slow cooker was too full to add anymore. I only did about 3 cups of chicken broth and only 1 can (14.5 oz) of diced tomatoes. It also took about 7 hours to cook, I put it on around noon and it was ready by 6:45pm. The peppers were nice and soft and the rice was nicely cooked. Apparently it needed more salt and pepper, but I don't want to over season where it's inedible. Overall, it wasn't bad. I added some shredded cheese overtop of mine. :)

A drink you can eat

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Made: January 27, 2012

Ingredients
- Your favorite Devil's food or chocolate cake mix
- 1 cup whipped vanilla frosting
- 1/2 cup marshmallow creme
- 1/4 teaspoon unsweetened baking cocoa
- 6 miniature pretzel twists, broken in half

Directions
- Heat oven to 350F
- Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups
- In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and egg with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally
- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
- Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
- Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack
- Cool completely, about 30 minutes
- In small bowl, mix frosting and marshmallow creme
- Spoon into small resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag
- Cut 3/8-inch tip off 1 corner of bag (Or spoon mixture onto cupcakes instead of piping)
- Pipe 3 small dollops of frosting mixture on top of each cupcake to look like melted marshmallows
- Sprinkle with cocoa
- Press pretzel half into side of each cupcake for cup handle
- Store loosely covered

Unfortunately, they don't look like they do in the "recipe picture" as my "marshmallows" melted all over my cupcake. I did a couple things differently (like always) I didn't add on the pretzel as my carrying case has little space in-between the cupcakes. And with my marshmallow everywhere, it was just a mess. :( I also used my Pampered chef decorating Easy Accent Decorator to pipe on the marshmallow. Love that thing! (The marshmallow is also white; excuse the lighting!)

Recipe used: Pillsbury

Stuffin' chicken

Chicken and stuffing casserole

Made: January 26, 2012

Ingredients
- 2 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix, divided
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 4 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed, well drained
- 2 cups shredded or cubed cooked chicken or turkey
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 large eggs

Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Coat a shallow baking dish with cooking spray
- Mix 2 tablespoons stuffing with melted butter in a small bowl, set aside
- Combine remaining stuffing mix with vegetables and chicken in a large bowl
- Spread mixture in even layer prepared baking dish
- Beat broth and eggs until blended
- Pour over chicken and stuffing
- Sprinkle with reserved buttered crumbs
- Bake until bubbly, 25-30 minutes

I had a couple of concerns. It's a bit under-seasoned and gets a bit dry. Even though I added more than the recommended broth since I used more stuffing mix than just two cups worth. However, the taste overall was pretty good! So next time, I'll be making the adjustments. And putting foil over top as well; the top stuffing mix got a little on the crispy side as well.

Recipe used: Easy to bake, easy to make

Gołąbki's

Stuffed Cabbage rolls

Made: January 24, 2012

Ingredients
- 1 large head of cabbage
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice
- 1 can (15oz) tomato sauce, divided
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Bring a large saucepan to a boil
- Cut 4 large cabbage leaves from a head of cabbage
- Add cabbage leaves to boiling water; reduce heat & simmer until leaves are softened
- Combine ground beef, rice, 1/2 cup tomato sauce, onion, garlic salt & cinnamon in a large bowl; mix well
- Place about 1/3 cup beef mixture on stem end of each cabbage leaf
- Fold sides of leaves over beef mixture and roll up
- Place cabbage rolls, seam side down, in an 8in baking dish
- Pour remaining tomato sauce over cabbage rolls
- Cover with foil
- Bake cabbage rolls until beef mixture is no longer pink, 50-60 minutes
- Spoon sauce over rolls when serving

I need to work on my rolling technique

Since I usually try to cook for my Granny (which everyone knows by now), this was without onions. But all-in-all it came out just like they did when I bought them at my Church's polish festival :) I didn't have tomato sauce, so I used Diced tomatoes in sauce and then tomato paste to top it off with. :) The hardest part was getting the leaves of cabbage off in one piece. :( And I need to work on how to roll things correctly. They always seem to come out weird, but as long as they're tasty!

Recipe used: Easy to bake, easy to make

Cheesy Crescents

Ham & cheese turnovers

Made: January 22, 2012

Ingredients:
- 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
- 8 thin slices cooked ham (8 oz)
- 4 thin slices Cheddar cheese (4 oz), each cut into 4 strips

Directions:
- Heat oven to 350 F
- Separate dough into 8 triangles
- Place 1 piece of ham on each triangle; place 2 strips of cheese down center of ham
- Fold in edges of ham to match shape of dough triangle
- Roll up each crescent, ending at tip of triangle
- Place with tips down on un-greased cookie sheet
- Bake 15 to 19 minutes or until golden brown
- Immediately remove from cookie sheet; serve warm

I did mine slightly different as I loooooooooooove cheese. I used a whole piece instead of cutting them in half. The extra cheese made it so gooey with the ham. YUM!

(Recipe from: Pillsbury)