Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers

When I was growing up, we never had stuffed peppers. My dad was allergic, and as a result bell peppers never graced our house. I honestly don't think I even knew that bell peppers could come in multiple colors, let alone the wonderful crisp flavors they can incorporate into your meal.

Flash forward to college, and I'm experimenting with foods and discovering new tastes and textures I never dreamed about. Along the way, I discovered the wonder that is stuffed peppers. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely scared the first time I really had bell peppers that my mouth would be on fire. Little did I know. On fire? No. Flavorful? Yes.

AJ and I share our love for stuffed peppers, and are constantly trying new methods, stuffings, etc. Below is just one of the many we have found and love. Oh, and I get to call them Tex-Mex because I'm from Texas. It's a birthright.

Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers
6 bell peppers
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 jalapeño, cored and diced
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1 can of diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
salt, pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheese

1. Cook brown rice according to package.

2. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the onion, jalapeño, brown rice, diced tomatoes, corn, black beans, and seasonings. Set aside.

3. Core bell peppers and scrape out as much of the white part as possible. Stuff mixture into each pepper almost to the top. Place peppers into greased baking dish.

4. Place in oven and cook for 20 minutes.

5. Top each pepper with shredded cheese. Raise oven temperature to broil. Place peppers back into over and cook until cheese is browned and edges of pepper begin to scorch (about 3 minutes).

Dig in!

Lemon Parmesan Quinoa with Seared Scallops

I promised myself I would be more diligent at posting to my blog in 2014, but I was reminded at how completely horrible I am at keeping New Years' resolutions. Rather than set unrealistic expectations for the year, knowing that if history continued to repeat itself I would give up within a few weeks, I decided this year to forgo the New Years' resolution practice. Instead of giving myself an official start date of January 1 and something so official as a resolution, I decided that I would rather give myself goals for changes in my life.

Changes in your life and your lifestyle don't simply happen overnight. I think this is a huge contender for why resolutions don't last. People expect to change some part of their life beginning January 1, and as soon as something doesn't fall into this plan, rather than just trying again or continuing to try, we give up on the goal completely.

That being said, while I would *like* to post my recipes and cooking endeavors more consistently, I know that I have never been diligent at such a practice. I love to cook, and I love to write, but I don't always feel like combining the two. Rather than completely giving up on this, I will continue to try. I know that it's already the end of January and I haven't added anything since before Thanksgiving, but I'm not ready to give up something that brings me joy. I love cooking, I love cooking for people, and I love sharing my cooking with anyone who is around.

Now that you've made it through my soliloquy, you have earned a recipe.

This was such a simple and wonderful dish. I had tried several recipes with seared scallops before, but this was the first time I combined it with quinoa. I know some people don't like quinoa, but I just love it. It's like a blank slate, ready to absorb any flavors you lend. I enjoyed the quinoa so much, I made a whole batch the following week to take as my lunches to work. It was a welcome, fragrant, delicious, lemony change.

Lemon Parmesan Quinoa with Seared Scallops
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 lemon
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/3 cup parmesan cheese (plus more for garnish)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt, pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
12-18 scallops (3 per person)

1. Rinse quinoa in cold water. Cook as directed on the package (usually, bring to a boil on stove with 2 cups water, cover and simmer for 15 minutes).

2. Once the quinoa is cooked, add the zest and juice from the lemon, green onions, onion powder, garlic powder, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine.

3. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the scallops. Cook for 3 minutes, flip, and cook for an additional three minutes or until browned.

4. Serve scallops over quinoa. Garnish with additional parmesan.

Serves: 4-6

Gruyere Apple Mac n Cheese

I don't always indulge, but when I do, it's usually for something epic. This was one of those times.

I love a good mac n cheese. Seriously. When I was little, there was a time when I wouldn't eat anything but mac n cheese or pizza. While I certainly eat other things these days, I simply cannot shake the love for mac n cheese.

My husband love love LOVES bacon, but we don't usually have it very often. When I decided on my indulgence meal, I couldn't leave him hanging. There would be mac n cheese, and there would be bacon. You know how those homestyle mac n cheeses always have a crusty crunchy topping? I love that. I think the crunch is just perfect to offset the creamy texture of the cheese. Immediately thinking of my husband, I imagined taking that crunchy topping one step further by adding crumbled bacon. Wait - I took it two steps further. Instead of melting butter to add to the bread crumbs and bacon topping, I thought - I'm cooking bacon, which will create some bacon grease...why don't I just use THAT fat rather than throwing it away and instead using butter?

And with that, an extravagant indulgence was created. This is definitely one of the less healthy options I've created recently, but it was everything I could have hoped for. The preparation was a little intense and involved timing everything just right so I suggest reading through the whole recipe before attempting to start or you may forget a step or realize that you needed the bacon to finish cooking before even starting the cheese sauce. The main thing to remember is PREPARE THE CHEESE LAST. No one wants to make that perfect cheese sauce and then have to wait until it congeals and then trying to mix everything.

Gruyere Apple Mac n Cheese Topped with Crumbled Bacon
10 oz shredded Gruyere cheese
1 Tablespoon cream cheese
2 cups dry macaroni noodles
1 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup milk
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 apple, chopped (I used honey crisp)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons flour
2 strips bacon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Cook macaroni as directed on package.

3. Cook two strips bacon. In a small bowl, crumble the bacon, add bread crumbs and bacon grease from the bacon you just cooked. Mix to combine. Set aside. This will be the topping.

4. Bring the same pan as you used for the bacon back to medium high heat. Add onion, apple, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Stir infrequently. This will be caramelizing and cooking while you finish everything else.

5. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter. Add flour and whisk to combine. Slowly add vegetable stock and milk, whisking to combine after each addition.

6. Increase to medium-high heat, bring to simmer. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.

7. Let thicken (about 3 minutes).

8. Set aside 1/2 cup cheese for topping. Slowly add the rest of the cheese, whisking to combine after each addition.

9. In a big bowl, combine the cooked macaroni and apple and onion mixture. Pour into an 8x8 pan. Pour cheese mixture on top. Mix if needed. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bacon mixture.

10. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown and the cheese is bubbling on the sides.

Pecan Spice Cookies

I took a nice long long break from blogging for the month of October. My brother and one of my best friends both got married (not to each other) and I couldn't be more thrilled!

But now it's back to life as normal. It isn't all bad. Luckily, I happen to adore cooking and baking, and I can't wait to share some of the recipes I've been working on!

Fall is now in full bloom (can I say bloom when referring to the Fall?), but when it was just starting to turn colder I was instantly looking for a fall-themed food item to welcome the season. I didn't have any canned pumpkin, and I was at a loss. All I could think of was pumpkin-spice flavored EVERYTHING.

And then it hit me. Pumpkin isn't the only thing that can be spiced. The spices themselves say "autumn is here!" And an idea was born. While we didn't have any pumpkin, we did have a Sam's size bag of pecans.

Success. These cookies are the mere essence of fall, and the chopped pecans only add to it. I give you Pecan Spice Cookies.

Pecan Spice Cookies
3 cups All-Purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy.

3. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until combined.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.

5. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture, mixing to combine in between each addition.

6. Stir in pecans.

7. Scoop tablespoons of batter onto greased cookie sheet.

8. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Almond Berry Smoothie

There aren't many things I crave more in the summer than a smoothie. The cold, creamy, icy texture combines perfectly to counteract the hot, muggy, blistering summer heat. Summer days can get as hot as 115 degrees in Oklahoma, so anything that can help combat that is instantly welcomed.

My husband and I have gotten in the habit of buying large quantities of berries from Sam's and freezing them in batches so we can always have a smoothie option on hand. This summer, we had pretty much every combination of strawberry - blackberry - blueberry you can imagine.

One of my favorites was one that combined blackberries and strawberries at the height of their seasons, alongside some almond milk. It was cold, it was crisp. Not only do I not want a lot of food in the middle of summer, but I also don't want to have to put a lot of effort into my food. I want light. I want easy. This recipe is all that and more.

Almond Berry Smoothie

1 1/4 cup frozen blackberries
2 cups frozen strawberries
3/4 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup almond milk
1 Tablespoon Agave

Combine ingredients in blender. Blend until desired consistency, adding additional yogurt or almond milk as needed.

Savory Cauliflower Waffles

Let's be honest here. My husband is not always excited by my dinner ideas sparked by Pinterest. This was one of those times. "Honey! Look! Savory waffles with cauliflower! Yum" was met with a stern look. He's such a good sport so he let me go ahead and try the recipe. We had a backup meal planned just in case it didn't turn out as yummy as I hoped.

It turned out better. Honestly, we spent the whole meal around the waffle iron. One would come out, and we would pounce on it. Once we finished one, another was ready to come out of the iron!

I'm always one for adding avocado. I could eat avocado every single day and be as happy as can be. While we were attacking the waffles, I saw some avocados out of the corner of my eye. I knew it was meant to be. We decided to fancy up the dish a bit. Breaking the waffles at the creases, we then topped with mashed avocado and a shake of cayenne pepper. Sweet bliss. The flavors melded together like I could only hope.

AJ now requests this meal every few months. It's fancy pub fare and it's packed with flavor. You can serve it as an appetizer, or just eat it all like we do.

Savory Cauliflower Waffles
Adapted from The Lighter Side
2 cups cauliflower
2 cups shredded mozzarella
2/3 cups shredded parmesan
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 avocado
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
cayenne pepper, for garnish

1. Mash avocado and sea salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. In a food processor, pule the cauliflower and mozzarella until it looks like course crumbs (picture above).

3. In a large bowl, stir to combine the first 9 ingredients (cauliflower to parsley).

4. Scoop 1/2 cup of the mix into a hot waffle iron (We have a belgian waffle iron. If you have a smaller iron, you may need to use less. It should mostly fill the iron). Cook in waffle iron for 4-6 minutes. It's done when it comes out easily with a fork.

5. Cut along creases. Top each section with a spoonful of the mashed avocado and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

Zucchini Black Bean Chili

I know it's summer. I know I'm supposed to only be craving light cold items...but I'm not. Despite 90 degree days, I have been consistently craving chili for two weeks. You heard right. Chili. For two long weeks I tried to deny the craving ('I'm not REALLY craving chili in July'). Then I tried to convince myself the error in my craving ('No! You want a smoothie! You want ice cold! Think of how hot it is!'). But it was to no avail. I wanted what I wanted and I wanted it when I wanted it.

I've never really understood the whole craving concept. I mean, why would I crave one thing even IN THE MIDDLE of eating some other equally delicious meal?

Oh well. If what I REALLY want is chili, I can have that. Then I was presented with a new dilemma. If you've made chili before, you know - it makes a lot of chili. I should just freeze some, but inevitably we just end up eating chili for 3 or 4 days straight until it's finally all gone. While I wanted chili, what I didn't want was beef for 3 or 4 days straight. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for beef, but there is a time and a place for it and 4 days straight is not the time and my belly for those 4 days is most certainly not the place.

I hopped on over to my handy dandy Pinterest. I knew I had pinned several veggie-friendly chilis, so I casually perused until one caught my eye. Zucchini and Black Bean Chili. 'That's it!,' I thought. I opened the recipe, nodding along as I read each ingredient out loud...until I saw "two pounds ground beef." Well, there goes that idea. None of the other recipes I saw were satisfying my fancy, either. I wanted real chili and real chili taste without having to put greasy fatty beef into my system for several days.

Never mind, I'll make it myself. And you know what? I WILL have Zucchini Black Bean chili - my own way. Since I'm making it up, I'm going to add one of my absolute favorite food items of all time - avocado. If avocado isn't your thing, you can obviously just leave that item out. Feel free to top with your favorite chili toppings. This has everything you love about chili - the thick consistency, the lumpy tomatoes, the absolutely wonderful taste...just without any beef. You may be surprised to find that you didn't actually need that beef.

Zucchini Black Bean Chili
3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 big zucchinis (about a pound), diced
1 onion, diced
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 cups vegetable broth (plus more, if needed)
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons cumin
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream (for garnish)
1 Tablespoon arrowroot powder or other thickening agent, if needed

1. Combine all but your garnish in a crock pot. Be sure to add all the liquids from your canned tomatoes. The liquid should completely cover everything. If not, add more vegetable broth until everything is covered.

2. Cook in crock pot at low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

3. A few minutes before serving, taste and add more of the spices if needed. If you want thicker chili, add a tablespoon of a thickening agent (arrowroot powder, masa flour, corn starch). Mix to combine.

4. Top with favorite chili toppings. I used a tablespoon of sour cream and half of an avocado, diced. If you want to make this vegan, don't add sour cream or shredded cheese.