Chicken Terryaki Stir Fry

This is one of our favorite weeknight meals. It's really a no recipe recipe. You can clean out the fridge, use up all your veggies and it's super quick and easy. I cook the chicken first. I've cooked it a variety of different ways. Sometimes on the Cuisinart Griddler, other times just in the pan. I like it to get some good color on it, looks more appetizing. Remove the chicken from the pan, then saute all kinds of vegetables in some olive oil. I always start with an onion, then add some peppers, usually red. For some green color you can use pea pods, asparagus (our current favorite) or broccoli. We also like something a little crunchy, so I do bean sprouts and/or water chestnuts. Any veggies you like or have will work great, so just clean out the fridge and use up all that great stuff! While the veggies are cooking add in some sauce. I don't make my own, but we absolutely love Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce. It's sweet and savory, and it's amazing. It works wonders on the chicken (and other meat) as a marinade too! I use our rice cooker, and use Jasmine rice. I love our rice cooker. Brian's aunt gave it to use for our wedding, and it's a good one, works like a champ every time!

So there you have it, spoon some of the stir fry and chicken on top of the steaming rice, maybe a little extra sauce, and you've got a quick, easy, and oh so tasty meal. And it's easy on the waste-line too!

Smothered Pork Chops

I have been wanting to branch out and try cooking with different types of meat instead of just the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I know there are a million ways to prepare chicken, and I'm not even close to trying them all out. But the other day I noticed some trimmed pork loin chops on sale. I decided to buy them and find the recipe later. And boy did I find a good one. Not knowing what kind of recipe I wanted to try, I just searched foodnetwork.com until I found a recipe that looked good, and used ingredients I had already, I did not want to go to the store. I came across a recipe from Tyler Florence called Smothered Pork Chops. This recipe appealed to me because, like I said, I didn't have to go to the store, it used buttermilk, which I had left over from the chocolate cake I had just made, and it made gravy, and how I do love my sauces!

This recipe was very simple to follow. I was so excited I didn't have to go to the store that I didn't realize I only have vegetable stock, not chicken stock. I decided to just use it, and it may have altered the flavor a bit, and I know the color was a brighter orange, but it was still a very tasty dish so it must not matter too much.

I followed the recipe exactly. Dredge the pork chops in a flour mixture, brown them, remove from pan, add liquid to make gravy, put chops back in and cook until done! That's it. A few things, I made four pork chops, like it calls for, but I had way more flour mixture than needed. So next time I might cut that down by half. I'm not the best at cooking pork chops just yet. I had to cut mine open to see if they were done. And I know that's a no no because all the juice can run out, but I didn't want under cooked meat. I also would have liked more gravy, so I'll probably adjust the recipe next time to include more liquid. But this was a great weeknight dinner. It was quick, the husband raved about it, and, like I said, you'll most likely have all the ingredients in your cupboard. (I know most of us don't usually have buttermilk just lying around, so I looked up buttermilk substitutes and it's super easy to make if you have milk and vinegar. Here is a good article with a few different recipes for buttermilk.) I served the pork chops up with rice and asparagus (my husbands go to vegetable).

Smothered Pork Chops

Stuffed Bell Peppers

The last couple of posts were all about amazing food restaurants made for me, so I thought I better get back in the kitchen. Tonight I tried a new recipe from my mom's kitchen. The other night she was raving on about these stuffed bell peppers she was making for her and my dad. Apparently my dad loves them and they both can't get enough. What I want to know is why she's never made those for me. In fact, I didn't even know she made stuffed bell peppers, and tonight when I made them was my first time ever tasting them. I had some bell peppers and was trying to figure out what to do with them before they went bad, so I had my mom email me over the recipe and I gave it a try.

In my head when I thought of stuffed bell peppers I envisioned a half of a pepper stuffed. But apparently you;re supposed to cut the top off and stuff the whole pepper. I did a major no-no and started cutting before I read the whole recipe, which clearly said, "cut the top off and clean out the inside." So we improvised. I'm pretty sure it all turned out the same. So you should start by cutting off the top of the pepper and cleaning out the insides. Then you're going to put them into boiling water for about five minutes. They should turn a brighter green than they currently are. This is just to help soften them up so they're not crunchy when you eat them. The stuffing is really easy to make too. Start by sauteing half an onion, and half a pound of ground turkey (hamburger, if you prefer) add in the spices and diced tomatoes and you're good to go. Make sure to salt and pepper the turkey well. And you can adjust the cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Mom's recipe calls for Pappies Seasoning, but I didn't have any, and we didn't miss it. Also, instead of minute rice, I used regular rice that was already cooked. Just add it to the pan to warm it and season it.

Well, needless to say, my Mom did it again. I'm not sure where this recipe originated, but she has made it her own and I'd say it's a keeper. Brian loved them, but said they were very filling. This was the only thing we had for dinner and it was plenty. Enjoy!

Debby's Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:
3 medium green bell peppers
½ onion
½ pound ground turkey
1 14 oz. petite diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup minute rice
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
Pinch of pappies seasoning
Pinch of garlic powder
Tiny pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven 350.

Cut off top of peppers and clean out the insides. Place them in a pot of boiling water. Be sure they are covered with water and cook for 5 – 8 minutes. They will change from dark green to a lighter color.

Saute onion in olive oil
Add turkey meat and spices.
Cook till meat is done.
Add cheese

Fill up cups with meat filling. Cover with a little cheese.

Bake uncovered for 30 min. in 350 oven.