PIZZA-STUFFED PEPPERS

In a recent issue of Pillsbury's Pot Pies & Casseroles cookbook, I found a recipe for Pizza-Stuffed Peppers, made with orzo pasta instead of rice, which intrigued me. They were very easy to make and were quite good. This would be a great recipe for kids. 1/2 cup uncooked orzo
4 cups boiling water
6 small bell peppers
10 ounces ground turkey
1/2 cup diced pepperoni
15 oz. of pizza sauce
1½ cups mozzarella shredded
1/2 cup water

Cook the orzo in 4 cups boiling water for 3 minutes (see note). Drain and rinse with cold water then set aside. Cut top off of bell pepper and clean out seeds and membranes, rinse. If pepper does not sit straight, trim a little off the bottom.
Brown ground turkey and pepperoni over medium-high heat for 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until turkey is not longer pink then drain well. Stir in pizza sauce, 1 cup of cheese and the partially cooked pasta. Divide mixture evenly between the bell peppers.

Spray a 5-6 quart slow cooker with vegetable spray and pour in 1/2 cup water. Stand filled bell peppers upright in slow cooker, replace bell pepper tops. Put lid on and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. Just before serving, remove pepper tops and top with remaining cheese, cook 5 to 10 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

To remove bell peppers from slow cooker, lift out with large slotted spoon, using tongs to support peppers (do not squeeze).

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I didn't make mine in the crockpot. Instead, I pre-cooked the empty bell peppers (wrapped in plastic wrap) for 3 minutes in the microwave. I then filled them with the filling mixture and baked them in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. I then topped them with lots of cheese (more than the recipe calls for) and baked them another 5 minutes or so until the cheese was all melty.

NOTE: There are several ways to pre-cook the empty bell peppers before you fill them. You can blanch them in boiling water, but I find that microwaving them works better.

NOTE: If you use my method of baking these bell peppers, cook the orzo for the full 9 minutes before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. I also added about a cup of chopped mushrooms to meat mixture during the last part of its cooking time.

FUN FOOD FACTS & OUR DOG CHLOE

This is our dog Chloe, she just turned five. Our oldest son calls her "his youngest sister" (insinuating that we treat her like a human lol). We bought her from puppy rescue when she was just 6 weeks old and (by the look of the doggie toy basket) she has the run of the house. Her mother was a registered black labrador and her father a Jack Russell Terrier...so, she looks like a lab and is smart like the Jack Russell. She is a sweetie!!
I've put together a list of fun food facts that I hope you will find some use for:

1. Did you know that the pre-shredded cheese in the supermarket is coated with potato starch or powdered cellulose to keep it from clumping up? No wonder freshly shredded cheese tastes better (and melts better).

2. If you have a problem with meatballs crumbling when you brown them, chill them in the fridge for half an hour before you fry them.

3. Keep a small box of powdered milk in your pantry. It is always good to bake with in a pinch. If a cake or cookie recipe calls for cream, you can use the powdered milk (using only half of the water) and it will work.

4. Do you have toddlers at home? Freeze leftovers in ice cube trays then pop them out and store the cubes in a freezer Ziploc type bag. The smaller size microwave quickly and they make a great no-fuss lunch for your little ones.

5. Does a recipe call for just a few drops of lemon juice? Poke a lemon with a fork and squeeze out what you need, then seal the fork holes with a little butter and put back in the fridge.

6. Cottage cheese and sour cream last longer if you store the containers upside down (I put mine on a dish just in case there is something wrong with the container seal).

7. If you live in a "non-corn growing state" like I do, fresh corn on the cob can be less than primo at times. A spoon of sugar in the boiling water will give your corn a great fresh taste. This works great for fresh broccoli too.

8. When making a recipe that has blueberries, raisins, chocolate chips, etc. in it, coat them with flour before you fold them into the batter. It will keep them from sinking to the bottom of your cake.

9. If you are caramelizing sugar for a recipe, make sure you use a bright/light colored pan so you can keep an eye on the color of the sugar.

10. To keep bananas from turning brown, wrap them in a dark plastic trash bag and keep them in the vegetable crisper of your fridge. They will stay bright yellow for several days.

HAVE A GREAT (and safe) WEEKEND !!

VEGGIE CALZONES

Lately I've been making calzones. They are a very versatile "hot sandwich" and since they require small amounts of filling...they are a good way to us any leftovers on hand. Hubby loves big meat sandwiches, so I've made them with leftover BBQ chicken, steak & cheese, ham & cheese, crisp bacon & cheese and yes, pizza goodies.

Personally, I like my calzones stuffed to the brim with veggies and a little pizza sauce & cheese. I have found, through trial and error, that you have to saute your veggies until tender then drain them well on a paper towel. If you don't, you will get a soggy-bottom crust on your sandwich. Any veggies will work. Roasted veggies are excellent, so are grilled veggies. Tonight I was lazy, so I just sauteed some broccoli, mushrooms, garlic, green onions and kidney beans, but usually, the more veggie variety the better.

I use my regular bread dough recipe (CLICK HERE) and jazz it up with 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder(add seasonings when you add the liquid in the recipe).

Normally, I would rather cut my arm off than show anyone my oven, but I wanted you to see MY secret for getting a pizzeria style pizza crust. It doesn't look like anything special, but it is truly the best way to cook pizza at home.

My hubby came up with this idea about 10 years ago when I was complaining that my pizza stone wasn't working the way I wanted it to (I wanted a crispy crust with nice pillowy edges). He cut a 1/4" thick piece of steel (to fit my oven) and I seasoned it like a cast iron frying pan. After you have seasoned it, you never grease it or wash it again, just wipe it off.....nothing sticks to it.

I preheat my oven (and the steel sheet) to 450 degrees and use cornmeal on my pizza peal so that the prepared pizza (or calzone) will slide off directly onto this sheet of hot steel (no pan). Bake for 8 minutes, then switch the heat to broil and (watching it carefully) let it broil for about 2 more minutes or until it is the color you want. It works great...no more doughy "steamed" crusts.

For calzones, you will need a ball of yeast dough about the size of a hardball. Roll it out to a nice thin circle. Place a mound of sauteed, and drained, veggies on one side of the circle and top them with 1/4 cup of pizza sauce (CLICK HERE FOR MY PIZZA SAUCE) and a serious hand full of grated mozzarella cheese. Fold the "empty" side of the calzone over the filling and pinch the edges together. Once pinched together, roll the pinched dough edge back onto itself to form a very tight seal. Using scissors, snip several vent holes in the top of the calzone. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until nice and golden. Just as soon as they come out of the oven, brush them with butter and sprinkle with parmesan and coarse salt.

VEGGIE CALZONE CUT IN HALF

PINEAPPLE-PECAN CUPCAKES

A few days ago, Donna, over at My Tasty Treasures, posted a yummy looking recipe for Pineapple Pecan Cake. Today, I decided to cut her recipe in half and make cupcakes instead (half of the recipe makes 15 cupcakes).

With my "tweaks" I was aiming for sort of a pineapple upside down cake flavor, and it worked!! I love recipes like this, they go together with just a bowl and a spoon... and couldn't be easier.

ULTRA MOIST

Here is Donna's original recipe, and my tweaks are in blue:
2 cups all purpose flour (1 cup)
2 cups sugar (1/2 cup white + 1/2 cup brown sugar)
2 teaspoons baking soda (1 teaspoon)
2 eggs (1 egg)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
20 ounce can crushed pineapple (8 oz. can)
1 cup chopped pecans - toasted (2/3 cup)

Stir everything in a large bowl, just until moist. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan (I used paper-lined cupcakes) and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes (I baked my cupcakes for 18 minutes).

NOTE: Do not drain the crushed pineapple.

FROSTING
8 ounces of cream cheese (softened)
1 stick of butter (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon (yes tablespoon) of vanilla
Mix until smooth

NOTE: These cupcakes are exceptionally moist even though they have no oil or butter in the batter. They actually taste a lot better at room temperature than they do when they are hot.

RICE STUFFED MUSHROOMS

The origin of this recipe is fairly humble: Hubby was hungry for steak and I was not, so I stuffed some large button mushrooms full of leftover spicey red  rice and topped them with Monterrey Jack cheese and baked them. They were so good, I ate way too much...the rest of them I re-heated (microwave) for lunch the next day and they were excellent.

I used a melon baller to scrape out the gills of the large mushrooms which made a nice pocket for the rice.

I stuffed the raw mushrooms full of (cold) red rice. Place the stuffed mushrooms in a 9 x 13 baking dish and top with shredded Monterrey Jack cheese.

Click Here for my Spicey Red Rice Recipe

Bake in pre-heated 350 oven for 15 minutes then turn on the broiler for a minute or two and serve.

Delicous and good for you if you go easy on the cheese.

CHOCOLATE-VANILLA CHEESECAKE

I served this delicious new recipe last weekend. Hubby and I couldn't stop nibbling on it. It has a bottom chocolate layer and a top vanilla layer, then I topped it with my newly discovered cream cheese-whipped cream. Talk about a one-two punch!! It is super quick to make and baked up without a single "crack".

CHEESECAKE
4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
(2) 8 ounce cream cheese (divided)
1/2 cup sugar (divided)
2 eggs (divided)
(1) 6 ounce Oreo pie crust
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Microwave the chocolate (on high) for 1½ minutes (stirring every 30 seconds) or until completely melted. My microwave only took about 50 seconds.

To the melted chocolate, add one 8 ounce package of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of white sugar and one egg. Beat until well mixed and pour into Oreo crust. In a different bowl, mix one 8 ounce package of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of white sugar, one egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and pour over the chocolate filling. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Chill for at least 3 hours then frost with whipped topping and sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds.

CREAM CHEESE-WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
(1) 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream
toasted sliced almonds

Combine room temperature cream cheese, sugar and extracts in a large mixing bowl. Beat until very smooth. With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the whipping cream (stop once in a while to scrape down the interior walls of the bowl). Continue to beat until cream forms stiff peaks.

This is a very sturdy whipped cream and will not deflate (there is still one piece of this cheesecake in the fridge (calling my name) and the whipped cream still looks as good as it did on Sunday).

NOTE: I did not have an Oreo crust, so I made a graham cracker crust and used a 10" pie plate. I didn't find out, until the cheesecake was in the oven, that an Oreo crust is only 8½" across, so my cheesecake came out a little on the thin side.

NOTE: Next time I make this recipe, I plan on making individual size cheesecakes by baking them in (cupcake paper lined) muffin tins. I am also going to alternate spoonfuls of chocolate and vanilla batter and run a knife through the batter to "marble" it.

NOTE: If you ever forget to bring the cream cheese up to room temperature, use this trick: unwrap cream cheese completely and microwave it on high for 10-15 seconds. (my microwave takes 13 seconds).

ULTRA TENDER PORK RIBS

This is more of a cooking technique than a recipe. I've made country style boneless pork ribs using this technique for as long as I can remember and they are fork tender every time. I am guessing that most of the experienced cooks out there already know this method, but there might be a few younger ones who would like to try this.

Look for boneless country style pork ribs (the leaner the better) in the meat market. An hour before you want to grill, cut them in to sections about 4" long and put in a large sauce pan and enough water to cover them. Add a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of black pepper.

Bring this to a boil on high. After a few minutes, you will see some "crud" float to the surface. Don't get grossed out, but it will look like this:

Skim it off and throw it away (you may have to do this a couple of times). Reduce the heat to a gentle boil and boil for 45 minutes. Pull one of the pieces of pork out of the pan and see if it is fork tender. If not, boil for another 15 minutes (but no longer). Some pork tends to be tougher than others.

Drain pork and put it into a bowl. Drizzle with enough melted butter to coat each piece. Put the pork onto the barbecue grill and coat with your favorite barbecue sauce. Keep turning and basting until the barbecue sauce starts to crisp up on the edges (usually only takes about 10-15 minutes tops.

These ribs are So flavorful and you don't even need a knife to cut them. I hope you will try this technique.

NOTE: Country style pork ribs are usually cut about 2" wide and 10" or so long. Ask your butcher if you can't find them. Make sure you get the boneless ones (better value).