Posted on 07/30/2011 7:53:35 AM PDT by libertarian27
Welcome to the 34th installment of the FR Weekly Cooking (Recipes) Thread.
Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or three - or all of them:)! for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites!
Here's the place to share and explore your next favorite recipe.
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July 30 - National Cheesecake Day
July 31 - National Raspberry Cake Day - Cotton Candy Day - Jump for Jelly Beans Day
August 1 - National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
August 2 - National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
August 3 - National Watermelon Day
August 4 - National Chocolate Chip Day - National Champagne Day
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Month long (August) food holidays
Sandwich Month * Peach Month * Catfish Month * Goat Cheese Month * Brownies At Brunch Month
***Weekly Cooking Thread Ping List***
(to be added/deleted - please post on this thread or PM me)
Recap of recipes from last week’s thread (July 23rd)
Appetizer* 15 QUICK IN A PINCH CHEATER SALSA.
Dessert* 7 VELVET ICE CREAM
Dessert* 22 Lattice top peach pies in a jar
Dessert* 23 homemade ice cream
Dessert* 54 caramel sauce
Dessert* 56 Vanilla Bean Frozen Custard
Dessert* 58 Wacky Cake
Dessert* 59 Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato
Dessert* 60 BLUEBERRY SOUP
Drink* 5 STRAWBERRY LEMONADE
Meal* 3 Monte Cristo
Meal* 10 crockpot roast beef
Meal* 11 Chili
Meal* 29 RANCH HOUSE SUPRISE
Meal* 31 Rotisserie Turkey
Side* 18 summer type salads
Side* 25 Bacon Jam
Soup* 32 John Folses Strawberry Soup
July 23rd link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2752790/posts?page=65#65
Here’s something silly. I sliced up radishes and added them to my green beans last night. Cooked radishes be good!
This one is so incredible because of the sponge cake base!
Anyone have a good stuffed Bell Pepper recipe?
Same mix as my meatlof. Cut peppers in half. Fill and bake.
Cooking radishes by themselves, or with a single vegetable is not a problem, though, as you have discovered.
Mine is similar. 1/2 favorite meatloaf recipe, mix with 1c cooked rice, slice tops off of peppers, clean out and fill. Pour I small can diced tomatoes with juice over the peppers, Bake at 350 until done.
Had to Bookmark that recipe! Sounds good!
My mom’s
Stuffed Green Peppers
1 pound ground beef
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
3 medium green peppers
3 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup Minute Rice
In medium glass bowl, crumble ground beef; stir in onion. Heat 5 to 6 1/2 minutes until beef is browned, stirring once; drain. Stir in 1 1/2 cans tomato sauce, water, 1 tablespoon cheese, salt and pepper. Heat, covered, 3 1/2 to 5 minutes, stir in rice; let stand, covered, 7 minutes. Meanwhile, cut peppers in half lengthwise; remove seeds and rinse. Spoon beef rice filling into each half; place in oblong baking dish. Top with remaining sauce and cheese. Heat, covered 15 to 18 minutes until peppers are tender. Let stand, covered 7 minutes before serving. Approximate cooking time: 30 minutes. Makes 6.
Another variation she made in the winter...
Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup
Ingredients
Splash of Olive oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 green peppers, chopped
1 28 oz tin of diced tomatoes
1 pound of lean ground beef
4 cups of beef stock or broth
2 cups of cooked white, brown or mixed rice
1 8 oz tin of tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
A pinch each of cumin and paprika
Preparation
1. Brown beef in soup pot. Pour beef into strainer to drain fat and water. Keep beef aside.
2. Add olive oil to soup pot, heat on medium-low heat.
3. Add onions, peppers, and salt. Saute until onions are soft.
4. Add cumin and paprika, cook for a minute more.
5. Add remaining ingredients, including the beef, and bring to a boil. Cook for about ten minutes to allow flavors to mix.
6. Serve topped with shredded mozzarella cheese, if desired.
Notes
In place of the cumin and paprika, you can use traditional Italian herb mixture, which contains oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, sage and savory. Any of the green, herbaceous spices will work well in this stuffed green pepper soup.
Another nice addition is a splash of Worcestershire sauce. It has just enough vinegar in it to give the soup a nice zing!
Tip
One way to maximize the flavor of stuffed green pepper soup, or any soup containing ground beef, is to really make sure you brown the beef well. Don’t just cook the beef through until it becomes gray; use a medium high heat, and get the beef really brown. This is carmelization, and it is a way to increase the flavor of nearly any food.
Then, once the beef is removed from the pot, make sure you capture the flavor that is stuck to the bottom of the pot. Splash in a liquid, preferably one with lots of flavor like white wine or Worcestershire sauce, and then scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula to dissolve the cooked-on bits. These have a ton of flavor, and you do not want to lose these. Just pour out the liquid into a glass or a bowl, and add it back in later. It may not look like much, but you will notice the difference in the flavor!
It costs a small fortune to make, but truly worth it - best cheesecake I have ever eaten!
Because of all the tuna talk in recent FR threads, I decided to make tuna sandwiches a few days ago and sadly, we were right about the quantity.
I checked the size of the small can and they are now 5 ounces. In the back of my mind I had thought it used to be around 7 ounces. Coincidently, while looking through some cookbooks last night (withdrawn library freebies!), I happened upon two tuna recipes that stated the size of the small cans:
7 1/2 oz. can = Richard Simmons Never-Say-Diet Cookbook - 1982 - page 86 - Tuna Imperial
6 1/2 oz. can = The Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook - 1992 - page 323 - Tuna Salad Sandwich
As has been the case with sugar, coffee, cereal, and toilet paper, so goes the size of small cans of tuna. Notice that at some point between 82 and 92 the size shrunk 1 ounce. Some say that may not be much but by 2011 it has shrunk 2 1/2 ounces or a total of one third of its original size. Well, original as far as I can verify.
Ok, so weve established were getting a can thats 1/3rd less than what we used to get, but what about the product inside the can? I cant tell you what the meat to water content was in 82 but heres what I found in the 11 product:
I opened four 5 oz. cans of tuna and did the lid squeeze to drain out the water. I then weighed it:
11 oz = water
9 1/2 oz (about 1 1/3 C) = meat
Yes, the weight of all four cans is a half ounce more than what should have been but it does tell a very eye opening tale.
Yikes, were paying about $4 per pound for canned tuna. When shopping, I try to keep my meat purchases around the $2/lb. mark. The other day I bought boneless beef ribs for $1.97/lb. and what with the drought beef prices should be dropping soon. With this slap up side the head, tuna sandwiches just went out of my budget. Sorry, Charlie, Ill save what I currently have in the pantry and look for something else to stock for teotwawki and other emergencies.
I don’t really have a stuffed bell pepper recipe - It comes out different every time:
Stuffed Bell Peppers:
Microwave 2 halved large bell peppers- in the casserole dish you’ll be using to bake them-(nice and snug so they don’t tip and less mixture falls through) in the microwave for 4-5 minutes (I half them the long way-get 4 that way:>)
Fry up a lb of Hamburger or so - add diced onion if desired - little or lots of garlic. Add equal amounts of cooked rice pilaf (half hamburger/half rice pilaf) Add pasta sauce to bind the mixture together (not soupy). Add chunks of cheese to the mixture(whatever you have- mozzarella, cheddar,American, gouda-etc) Load up the halved peppers and bake in a 350’ oven for 1/2 hour or so. (Also good with Mozzarella, etc. added to the top - last 10 minutes or so)
(Hey, I got peppers, hamburger and rice....I’m going to make these today:>)
My mom used to put some rice in with her ground beef mixture. Maybe it was minute rice so it would cook more quickly. Other than that, it was the standard meatloaf recipe, I believe.
Reading the recipes of several other here for stuffed bell peppers - I agree with the basics of a meatloaf recipe except that some folks add some rice to their meat mixture. I like a lot of a tomato based sauce so I use a jar of Ragu mixed with a prepared container of marinara for flavor - mix some into the meat and pour some around the peppers in the pan. Spoon some of the sauce over the peppers as they cook.
I have two very simple recipes that make our summer fabulous:
Rosemary Corn On The Cob: Shuck corn. Lay it on the corner of a rectangle of tin foil (16-18”). Put a pat of butter and a tiny sprig of fresh rosemary ((1/2”) on the corn and roll it all up tight in the tin foil. Twist the ends of the roll and fold under. Heat for about 10 minutes on the upper rack of the barbeque. Serve in foil. Be VERY careful when unwrapping the corn. It will be very hot and there is hot steam. We never eat corn any other way. You won’t believe what the rosemary does for it.
Figs and Cheese: Halve ripe figs and serve with thinly sliced pieces of fresh Parmesean cheese. The sweet and salty combination is to die for! Figs are also full of antioxidants.
Your Tuna “Surprise”! numbers are amazing!
I noticed that when once a small can could make two sandwiches it now makes one....We’ve pretty much stopped making tuna sandwiches, if we have a hankering for tuna I’ll make a cold tuna and elbow macaroni salad with mayo, eggs, onions....stretches out the 3-4 cans to three or four meals for two people....and it’s funner’ than tuna sandwiches too:>)
One-Pot Stuffed Pepper Dinner |
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1 pound lean ground beef 3 garlic cloves, minced 3 cups chopped green pepper 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) Italian diced tomatoes 2 cups water |
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste 8 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese, divided 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cup uncooked instant rice |
In a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add garlic; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add green pepper; cook and stir 3 minutes longer. Stir in the diced tomatoes, water, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, garlic salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Remove from the heat. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Yield: 6 servings. Serving size: 1-1/3 cups Per serving: Calories: 286, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 10mg, Sodium: 1002mg, Carbohydrates: 32g, Dietary Fiber: 3g, Protein: 21g Diabetic Exchange: 3 vegetable, 2 lean meat, 1 starch, 1/2 fat. |
I was reading through some cookbooks last night and happened upon this grocery list from 1773 for the Earl of Dunmore (from the Williamsburg Art of Cookery book) but I’ve typed it in more modern English. Huzzah! Looks like party time at the Dunmores:
15 Dozen bottle of Strong Beer
15 Dozen of Ale
3 Hogsheads of Porter
12 large chesshire Cheese
2 Dozen Gloucester cheese
100 lb. Currants
50 lb. Jar Raisins
4 lb. Mace
2 lb. Nutmegs
1 lb. Cloves
1 lb. Cinnamon
24 lb. Black Pepper
6 lb. Jamaica pepper (I’m guessing that’s a hot pepper)
2 Boxes Hand Soap
2 Casks of Barley
24 Bottles Mustard
20 lb. Isinglass (no clue?)
100 lb. Rice
100 lb. split peas
50 lb. Maccaroni (Yankee Doodle!)
20 Dozen Packs of Cards
1 Barrel of good Vinegar
1 Dozen Wine and Beer Cocks (maybe corks or crocks?)
30 lb. Almonds
12 Bottles of Olives
6 Bottles of Capers
4 Dozen pint Bottles of best Oil
12 Bottles small pickled Onions
12 Bottles of small pickled Cucumbers
12 Dozen Wine Glasses
6 Dozen Tumblers
6 Dozen Quart Bottle Decanters with Handles
3 Dozen 2 Quart Decanters
Does anyone know what the cup measurement would be for a recipe calling for a teacup, a large teacup and a coffee cup?
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