Recipe to Reality: Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

This will satisfy your Tex-Mex craving!

   We've been living together for about 2 years now, I have cooked dinner for at least three nights a week since that time, and I still make it a point to glance at my husband's face after his first bite of a meal I've made. Am I fishing for compliments? ABSOLUTELY! I completely thrive on positive reinforcement (must be the teacher in me...)

   After my husband took a bite of this meal, he didn't say anything. I asked him what he thought and he said, "I think there's too much pepper. The ratio of pepper to filling is off." Dumbfounded, I responded with, "They are stuffed peppers!"

   Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed this meal, but veggies are my favorite food group. The roasted bell pepper that served as a tasty vessel for my delicious meaty filling was one of the best parts of my meal!

   The recipe I used as a guide came from Simply Love Food. The only detail that I changed was I opted to substitute bulgur wheat for the white rice suggested in the recipe. My mother-in-law actually introduced me to bulgur wheat, and for those of you not familiar with it, it's a quick cooking form of whole wheat. For some more information on bulgur wheat, check out this article from Sunnyland Mills. Ultimately, it's healthier than white rice, and while my husband would never voluntarily eat bulgur wheat, within this recipe it really acts as more of a binder and you can hardly taste it. Normally, it has a nutty taste, and has a bite similar to brown rice. It pairs great with dried cranberries and fresh herbs (which is how my mother-in-law makes it). 

   I would probably rate this meal at a medium difficulty due to the number of steps required. By the end, I had three things going on at once.

Halved & Seeded

   First I had to cut the peppers in half and seed them. I tried to clean out the ribs as much as possible since I needed all that room to stuff my filling into.

Halfway Roasted

   I rubbed a bit of olive oil over the peppers and roasted them at 400 degrees in a 9 x 13 Pyrex baking dish for about 20 minutes. While they were roasting, I made the bulgur wheat following directions I found here at Livestrong.

Bulgur after all water is absorbed

   So now picture peppers in a 400 degree oven, bulgur wheat working on the stovetop, and a third burner working on medium for my filling...and no A/C in the kitchen. Good thing I just got a cute, short, haircut!

   In a skillet I cooked down a large yellow onion for about 2 minutes until translucent, then added the ground turkey. Once the turkey was browned, I threw in a packet of taco seasoning with 3/4 cup of water and let the mixture cook down. Then I added about 3/4 of a cup of frozen corn, and the can of drained and rinsed black beans and let all the flavors mingle.

Filling Minus Salsa & Bulgur

Finally, I added the jar of mango-peach salsa (YUM!) and all the cooked bulgur wheat for my finished stuffing! 

   By this time, the peppers were ready to come out. I was a bit pressed for time, so I didn't wait for the peppers to cool so that I could handle them. Instead, I just stuffed them using a wooden spoon inside the pan I roasted them in. I put them back into the oven for 15 minutes, pulled them out to add a little Mexican seasoned shredded cheese on top and stuck them back in for 5 minutes to let the cheese melt.

Sauna Time!

When I finally pulled them out, I added a pinch of chopped cilantro on top and we're ready to eat!

Yum!

 I found the filling to be extremely tasty! The grounded turkey was hearty while still being lean, the corn gave some sweet notes, the cilantro a bit of freshness, and the pepper itself was extremely tender. I was happy with the bulgur because although I love it on its own, I cleverly placed some whole grain into my hubby's diet tonight!

I should warn you that we had 2 peppers left over, and a TON of filling... which is why I'm planning on making Southwestern Bulgur Quesadillas next week! ^_~

Hope you enjoy this!!

Stay Savory,

Jasmine

Recipe to Reality: Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Banana Pudding Poke Cake!

    
   Some of you may be reading this title saying, "Poke cake?! What the heck is a poke cake?!" If this sounds familiar, don't worry, I thought the same thing. I found this recipe at The Country Cook's website. It's a great recipe for beginning bakers because it's Semi-Homemade, as Sandra Lee from the Food Network would say!

All set!

  The great thing about this cake is that the techniques are very simple, it tastes delicious (when does cake from a box not taste delicious?) and can have lots of different combinations. I decided to use "Rainbow Chip" cake mix, mostly because I already had a box of it in my pantry, but you can use your favorite cake mix for this recipe. After much deliberation, I decided to use Banana Cream pudding after getting advice from Twitter user @ThurmanPoat and my husband (whose opinion counts for a lot around here ^_^).


   I used a 9 x 13 pan courtesy of my aunt, Pattycake, because the kitchen in my apartment is too small for all my newlywed gifts :( . I followed the directions for the cake mix using the traditional water, eggs, and oil and let it bake for 28 minutes when the top was golden brown. Let the cake cool for just a few minutes before you begin poking holes into it.

This is where it gets its name from!

    Yes, POKE! Where do you think it got its name from? ;) I used the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all the way through the cake to the bottom of the pan. The only trouble I had with this was that some of the cake got stuck to the handle and then came out when I removed it so there were little crumbles of cake on top. It didn't change the way it tasted, but didn't make for a very pretty picture.

   While the cake is cooling, make the pudding according to the directions. Make sure you are using the instant pudding. I added milk to the pudding and whisked it for about 2 minutes, then let it sit for 2 minutes to solidify a bit. You don't want the pudding to completely solidify because you want to pour it over your cake, but you don't want it to be completely liquidy either.

Full of Holes!

   Next, pour the pudding over the cake and use a spatula or spoon to make sure the pudding gets into all of those holes that you poked! Put that into the refrigerator to set up for a few hours.

Pourable Pudding!

Using my Pink Spatula ;)

   Once the pudding is set, add a layer of Cool Whip. I used the Light Cool Whip, but you can use any kind.

Looking good!

   Finally, add some crushed Nilla Wafers to the top right before you serve it to add some texture to the cake. If you add them too early, they will absorb the moisture from the Cool Whip and will get soggy. 

Ready to Serve!

   My new mother-in-law had a party this weekend to welcome my husband and I home from our honeymoon and I decided to make this cake for it. All of my husband's family loved the cake! It was moist, the pudding was delicious, and the whole thing came together perfectly. I couldn't take too much credit, considering it is semi-homemade, but I didn't mind getting compliments, either!

Deeeeeelicious!

Savory Tip #1: Peeling Garlic

I learn a lot of tips from watching the Food Network 24/7. One of my favorite tips that saves me a lot of time is for peeling garlic.

I'm not sure which chef I heard this from first, but I use it every time. 

In a nutshell, instead of using your fingernails to peel the skin off the garlic (which can be very sticky) you use the flat of your blade and apply pressure to one side to essentially crush the garlic. This causes the skin pop off and makes mincing your garlic much easier. 

Chef Anne Burrell really SMASHES her garlic on her board, but then doesn't mince it and just sticks the mash into whatever she's making. I don't have the right equipment (or space) for that right now ;)

Here's a short clip of me peeling some garlic for you visual learners out there!

 

Hope you enjoyed this tip!

Stay Savory,

Jasmine

Recipe To Reality: Broccoli Shrimp Pasta Toss

Hola Sweethearts! Have you ever found yourself rushing home from a long, stressful day at work and wanting to prepare a quick and flavorful meal? This recipe is perfect for moms on the go or career women not wanting to sacrifice sacred time with family or friends for a time consuming meal. Since savory foods are more of Jasmines' forte, tonight I teamed up with my mother, Pattycake, to recreate this tasty dish she discovered about 3 months ago. To view the complete recipe by Natalie Van Viegen,   search for it on Allrecipes.com!

Ingredients ready to go!

As I mentioned previously, this is a simple dinner recipe-it only takes about 30 minutes total. Also, it is important in cooking to multitask-thus, boiling the water while you are preparing the actual broccoli mixture is crucial to carrying out the process in a timely manner. While making the recipe, I felt like the actual preparation of the various vegetables was most likely the part of the dish that was highly time consuming, as well as the actual cooking of the broccoli, onions, and garlic (about eight minutes).

Chopping veggies is easy with a food chopper!

Broccoli time!

To make the recipe our own, we added more of the ingredients than the recipe called for. That means a whole stick of butter compared to one tablespoon, as well as the use of fettuccine instead of bowtie pasta. I found that it was definitely important to stir the dish frequently to build up the flavor throughout the dish. The tasty medium of sweet and savory flavors in the dinner are really what makes it a new spin on traditional pasta recipes. 

The stirring definitely payed off-the broccoli was packed with a delicious blend of flavors. This is what makes this dish a great vegetable in disguise recipe, perfect for children and even picky adults who need a little bit of encouragement (Myself included). Although I did not taste the shrimp because of a traumatic experience a few years back, I have no doubt they were equally flavorful as well. As a rule of thumb, when the shrimp are pink they are safe to eat. 

Every chef needs a pre-meal snack!

There are two concerns I must voice about this dish. One- the broccoli seemed to disappear once the pasta was plated. The only explanation in my eyes was that the already small trees had become a little too tender and broken apart, coating the pasta. We had cut the vegetable smaller in order to cook it in a shorter amount of time. Two- Because we were waiting for my father to come home from work after we prepared the dish, it was left sitting out off the heat for a good 15 minutes or so. When it came time to eat, the pasta had definitely lost some of its flavor. That seems like the opposite of what should have happened-usually, when something is left to sit, the flavors intensify, but this was not the case for this recipe. All in all, though the dish brought up some complications, it is not doubt an easy answer that because of its simplicity and tasty flavors I will be making this colorful summer dinner again! Stay sweet, Candee