Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

This is a great recipe! It is quite affordable and you can make it healthier by using ground turkey and brown rice. The recipe made four stuffed peppers which meant yummy leftovers. Enjoy!

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

1/2 pound ground turkey breast
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup black beans
1 cup corn
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes with chiles (I use Ro-tel)
1/2 cup brown rice
4 bell peppers (I used green but any color will work)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1 lime

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan, cook rice with water as directed on package (I cooked the rice in a rice cooker). Meanwhile, brown turkey in a large skillet over medium high heat, crumbling as it cooks. Add 1/2 tsp cumin, cayenne, and half of chili powder. After about 5 minutes, add diced tomatoes and reduce heat to medium low. Add onions, black beans and corn and simmer until rice is cooked.

Meanwhile, prepare peppers by cutting in half through the top, remove stem, seeds and ribs. Rinse and set in a large baking dish. When liquid has cooked off rice, add remaining spices and fluff with a fork. Stir into turkey mixture. Squeeze juice of half of lime over the mixture and add half the cilantro. Spoon filling into pepper halves. Add a couple tablespoons of water to pan, cover the pan with foil and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Uncover, peppers should be softened. Sprinkle on cheese and return to oven for about another 5 minutes until cheese is melted. Top with remaining cilantro and sour cream, if desired.

Curried-Squash and Red-Lentil Soup

I love cooking with Lentils. They are tasty and quite healthy for you too! The only thing is that they always seem to take longer to cook than the recipe says. But this recipe is worth the wait! The recipe says to make a cilantro oil to drizzle over the finished soup, but I just added chopped cilantro in at the end instead. To serve, I first spoon cooked rice into the bottom of the bowl and then ladle the soup over the top.

Curried-Squash and Red-Lentil Soup
Adapted from Gourmet

For Soup:
3 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs unsalted butter
1 1/2 lb butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs minced peeled ginger
1 tbs curry powder
1 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
2 quarts water (I sometimes use chicken stock as well)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste

For cilantro oil:
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Accompaniment: cooked basmati rice

Make soup: Heat oil with butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook squash, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger and 1 tsp salt, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, 15-20 minutes.
Stir in curry powder and 1/4 tsp pepper and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes.
Add lentils and water and simmer, covered, until lentils are tender, 25-40 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

For cilantro oil: Puree cilantro, oil, and 1/2 tsp salt in a blender. Serve soup drizzled with cilantro.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

This has become a favorite of ours over the years. I often try to cook vegetarian and this recipe is a fabulous vegetarian chili. For added texture, I first put cooked brown rice in the bottom of the bowl and then ladle in the chili. It is delicious!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:
2 tbs olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 sweet potato peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground chipotle chili
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups water (I often use chicken or vegetable stock)
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp lime juice
2 tbs chopped cilantro

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and potato and cook, stirring often, until onion is slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add water, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until potato is tender, about 10-12 minutes.

3. Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice. Increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

4. Serve over cooked rice.

Artichoke Risotto

I found this recipe on one of my friends food blogs (dirtylittleelcaminolover.blogspot.com). It looked delicious and I just had to try it out. Bubba loves artichokes and I knew it would be a hit with him. It calls for vermouth and I don't usually have it on hand. I substituted it with white wine and it turned out great. I don't know what vermouth is supposed to taste like, but I liked it very much without it. This recipe does take a little bit of time, but it is worth it! Enjoy!

Artichoke Risotto

Ingredients:

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 cans canned artichokes
• 5 cups homemade light chicken or vegetable stock (I used canned)
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 leeks thinly sliced, white parts only
• 1 1/2 cups aborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry vermouth
• 3 tbs chopped mint
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbs chopped garlic chives (optional)

Directions:

Cut your canned artichokes into thin, vertical slices.

Heat the stock in a saucepan, cover, and keep at a low simmer. Heat the oil and 2 tbs of the butter over a low heat in a large, heavy based, non-aluminum pan that is wider than it is tall. Fry the leek without browning for 3-4 minutes.

Add the artichokes to the pan. Cook, stirring for 1 minute.

Add 1 cup of stock to the pan, cover, and simmer gently for 10 minutes or until almost all the stock has evaporated. Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the vermouth and cook until it has been absorbed. Add a ladleful of hot stock and stir constantly over medium heat until all the liquid is absorbed.

Continue adding more liquid, one ladleful at a time, until almost all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender and creamy. This will take 20-25 minutes (for me this took about 45 minutes). If the stock runs out, use boiling water.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the remaining butter, the mint, and Parmesan, and stir until the butter has melted. Set aside 1 minute before serving topped with the garlic chives, if desired.