Quinoa Stuffed Banana Peppers

I first tried quinoa over the Fourth of July holiday. My son, Justin, was here for a visit. Not even sure how to pronounce quinoa (keen-wah), I asked Justin if he'd had it and how to pronounce it. We found both red and white quinoa in bulk at Whole Foods. We decided to purchase some of both colors.

Since first trying quinoa last month, I've been reading and hearing about quinoa and it's health benefits. It is so much more nutritious than rice or pasta and is gluten free.

We have a great crop of banana peppers from our garden. We've been grilling them and using them in salads. I wanted to try and find another way to use them. In doing some searching yesterday, I found lots of recipes for stuffing them. We love stuffed peppers but always stuff the larger peppers. Most of the recipes I found used meat in the stuffing. I often make the green ones vegetarian and use rice for the stuffing. I decided to create my own recipe using quinoa for the stuffing.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

8 banana peppers
2 tablespoons butter
2 whole tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
1 egg
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS
Cut off tops of peppers, and remove ribs and seeds. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add peppers, reduce heat, and simmer until tender but still firm, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Slit peppers for stuffing.

Cook 1 cup quinoa in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, 20 minutes or until water is absorbed.

Heat butter in a medium skillet. Saute onion until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce and garlic. Season with basil, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and Parmesan. Mix in quinoa, bread crumbs and 1 cup of the tomato sauce mixture.

Fill each pepper with the meat mixture. Place in a 3 quart casserole dish, and pour remaining tomato sauce mixture over peppers.

Bake uncovered for 30 - 45 minutes.




My notes on this recipe: We loved the flavor and texture. This makes a great vegetarian stuffing. I would like to try this recipe with a mozarella cheese topping. This recipe made more than enough stuffing for 8 banana peppers. A half recipe would be just about the right amount for 8 peppers or a whole recipe would be ample for 16 peppers. I froze my leftover stuffing.

Favorite Summer Cocktail

What's your favorite summer cocktail? We love Mojitos. Mojito's are so refreshing, clean and crisp on a hot summer day. Today is one of those hot midwestern summer days. The temperature is going to be close to the century mark and the heat index even higher.

The traditional mojito is made with mint but lately I've seen some recipes made with basil or a combination of basil and mint. My basil crop is abundant, so I think it's worth a try.

Although some recipes use granulated sugar, to me it doesn't disolve and create the same smooth sweetness that simple syrup does.

Basil Mojito

1/2 lime, cut into quarters
6 basil leaves
1/4 c. simple syrup
2 ozs. white rum
club soda

Muddle the lime and basil in a cocktail glass. Add simple syrup and rum. Stir to blend. Add ice cubes and top with club soda. Garnish with a lime wedge and sprig of basil.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where have you been?

About 30 days ago, I was given some medical news that comsumed my life and my thoughts. In hindsight, maybe blogging would have been a good, theraputic thing. As it turns out, I am very lucky and my worst fears won't be realized. I will be home recovering from surgery for the next month , the perfect opportunity for blogging.

Summer fruits and vegetables are abundant. The tomatoes and peppers in my garden will be perfect for salsa. Hoping my one tomatillo plant spared by the rabbits produces the beautiful fruits. Did you know they are related to Chinese Lanterns?

I have a whole list of new recipes and I can't wait to try them!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuffed Eight or Cue Ball Zucchini

I was thrilled to see these at the Farmer's Market this week. I purchased one at the market last month. After getting home and doing some searching about how to prepare, I realized I should have gotten two of them. They're perfect for stuffing!!!

Stuffed Eight Ball Zucchini

2 Eight or Cue Ball Zucchini
1 clove garlic
1 shallot
1 1/2 cups couscous (prepared)
1 can rotel tomatoes
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesean cheese
Salt and Pepper

Cut the tops of about 1" from the top. Save the top if you would like your eight ball to have a lid.

Scoop out the insides, making sure to leave a wall on the sides. I used a melon baller and a regular spoon. Steam the zucchini 8 minutes, until slightly softened.

Chop the zucchini, I used a Pampered Chef Mix n Chop and it worked perfectly.

Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Saute garlic and shallot about 2 minutes (don't overcook). Add the chopped zucchini and saute 3 -4 minutes. Stir in breadcrumbs, parmesean and about 1/2 of the can of tomatoes (no juice). If mixture seems to dry, add a little of the liquid from the rotel peppers. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 400. Place zucchini in glass baking dish. Using a spoon or scoop, carefully fill the zucchini with the stuffing mixture. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and hot. Cover with tops for serving, if desired.

Grilled Chicken with Cherry Sauce

I picked up a pint of cherries at the Farmers Market on Saturday. Not really enough for a pie or cobbler. I decided to try a cherry sauce for grilled chicken.

So these cherries have pits!! My kitchen is full of gadgets but not a cherry pitter. Normally when I see how you can take an ordinary item and make something else useful out of it, I always think what a great idea but never seem have a need for it. Who knew a paper clip would made a great cherry pitter?

This is my adaptation of several recipes for cherry sauce and cherry barbeque sauce. You could use this sauce on pork or even fish. It's slightly sweet with a little tang.

Cherry Sauce

1/3 cup apple juice

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 Tbs orange juice

¼ tsp grated orange rind

2¼ cups pitted quartered sweet cherries (about 1 pound)

2 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp water

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cherries and bring to a boil over medium low heat. Cook 10 - 15 minutes, stirring often. Strain the mixture and return to the pan. Combine the cornstarch and water. Stir into the sauce and bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

Brush on chicken breasts during the last few minutes of cooking. Watch carefully, since the sauce is sweet, it will burn easily.

A New Cookbook for My Collection

I haven't taken a count lately but I am guessing this one puts me well over 100. I love cookbooks, I can sit and read them like a novel. Unfortunately, since it's so easy to find a recipe on the internet, I don't use them as often as I used to. Of course, there's those tried and true recipes from my favorite cookbooks. I need to make it a point to find at least one new recipe a week from any one of my hundreds of cookbooks...that would make a great blog topic!!!

I am a big fan of Martha Stewart radio, especially Everyday Food, Living Today and the gardening show (the name escapes me). There's been a lot of talk about Martha's new cupcake cookbook. Until yesterday, my plan was to put it on my Christmas list. While browsing the book aisle at Costco, there it was and at a great price, too. I couldn't resist.

Cupcakes are just fun!!! All the flavors and all of the different ways to decorate. As with many towns today, we have a couple of shops that specialize in cupcakes. Amazing that people pay $2.50 or more per cupcake, for something that is so easy to make at home.

After thumbing through the book this morning, the recipe I decided to try first was the Blondie Cupcake. They're easy to make, no frosting and remind me of a chocolate chip cookie in a cupcake.

The Tastes of Summer

We went to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning, just another reason I am enjoying our first weekend home from vacation.

The produce at the market had changed considerably in the weeks since we last visited. I was hoping for Fourth of July sweet corn and berries. Only one or two booths had corn and I don't think I saw any berries. Next weekend?

What we did find was an abundance of squash, tomatoes, new potatoes, peas, beans, onions and lettuce. Everything looked beautiful. We've had a lot of rain and cooler temperatures (until last week) and the veggies have flourished.

We brought home our largest "crop" of the year, new potatoes, cherries, zucchini, cue ball squash, baby eggplant, baby beets, snow peas, peas in the shell and green beans. I am always a little overwhelmed when I get everything home. Making sure we store it properly. What to cook when? What new recipes to try? Now that I've figured it all out my concern has turned to anticipation. I can't wait to try some new recipes.