its a pepper party!

Growing up we had some fabulous meals. While Im certain my mom did plenty of cooking, she was a working mama and that meant occasionally dad did some too. I recall complaining for hours "why do we allways have steak and baked potatos, ribs, filet, etc etc" he was a red meat man, unless he had been fishing in alaska. Then it was salmon for a month i swear (thank you beau for following in his footsteps and forcing me to relive this nightmare as an adult). I really did love dad's grillmaster skills in spite of my complaining, but one dish i never learned to love where his shish-kabobs. I loved the beef and chicken, but hold those veggies please :) Especially leave out those peppers! I never liked them but they were allways on my stick and I guess (though he wouldnt live to see the fruits of his labor :( ) it paid off. Now that Im a real live grown up, i have found the pepper love!





Bell peppers have double the amount of Vitamin C as an orange. They help neutralize free radicals and help reduce your risks of heart disease. All bell peppers are not alike, but all are beneficial. A pepper starts green and goes from green to yellow, to orange, then red and can be picked at any stage. Green are often the cheapest but to maximize the fab factor on the plate I like to offer all colors at my table. As for those complaining kiddos, it is a fact of science that bell peppers have no heat. They lack the gene to produce heat so if your complainers persist, a simple homeschool lesson is in order. As a child i swore they were hot, but truly they are not! They are packed with flavor, amazing texture and lack all that fat, sugar and artificial nastiness you will find in most anything else available in a rainbow pack!! Its important to note that the more you cook them, the less nutrients your body recieves so I am allways on the lookout for recipes that keep my peps lightly cooked.





Most likely I could have avoided them for the rest of my life and never found the love, but then I married Beau. He luvs sum peppers and he spread the love to me. In return I spread the love of "almost raw" peppers back to him and lately we have been loving the stuffed sort. We are working on spreading the love to the kiddos, making the stuffed variety a must. They eat the stuffing (usually containing chopped peppers) and dont starve if they are having an anti-pepper evening. Paxton is feelin the love and munches his peppers with pride, allways beggin for more :)





here are a few of our favorites so far :





Hungry Girl Bacon n cheese bell pepper skins ( a great sub for potato skins, less funk more flavor)





--preheat oven 350

--cut peppers in half and remove stems and seeds, slice peppers into quarters if you want a potato skin feel or leave halved if you prefer

--spray baking dish with nonstick spray (we use an olive oil sprayer) and place peppers cut side up baking 20 min (or less)

--cook up some turkey bacon (3 slices per pepper) then chop into small pieces

--remove excess liquid from peppers and sprinkle with shredded cheese, scallions, and bacon.

--bake 5 more min until cheese melts and serve with sour cream!!







veggie-stuffed peppers





--preheat 375

--add mushrooms, onion, and chopped bell pepper to skillet (about 1/4 cup per pepper, maybe more of your favs). cook until veggies slightly soften

--mix veggies with roma tomatos (about 1 per pepper unless its a big guy) cooked ground turkey or soy crumbles (1/2 cup per pepper)

--add 1/4 cup tomato sauce per pepper and 2T shredded cheese per pepper. add in some taco seasoning if u like it spicy

--slice of the top of your peppers and cut them in half if u want. remove seeds

--spray baking dish and bake peppers cut side up 20min (or less)

--soak up any excess moisture and spoon in veggie mix.

--lower oven temp to 350 and bake another 20min or so

YUM







Pepper pizzas



--preheat oven 350

--quarter each pepper discarding stems and seeds

--bake peppers in sprayed sheet or dish until slightly softened, cut side up (about 20min)

--in a bowl mix tomato sauce with your fav italian seasonings (1/2 cup per pepper) then stir in mushrooms and onions

--blot moisture from peppers (apparently an important step)

--give each pepper about 2T of sauce and top with pepperoni

--sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake ten min.

--top each pizza with parmesan if you wish and yum it up!!