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Food, Savory

Two Tries for Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Pepper

Lately I’ve been eating a lot of bread. Heard somewhere that’s not great for you or something. So I decided to avoid the many boxes of rice, noodles, pasta, as well as the bread and tortillas in my kitchen. Then I realized that I had no idea what to make for dinner, or how to make my craving for Philly Cheesesteaks come true. So like any good female looking for something to do, I went to Pinterest. (I read somewhere that 80 percent of Pinterest users are women.)

And there it was, like Monty Python’s crew looking for the Holy Grail (except that I didn’t find any rabbits with big, pointy teeth). A picture of a stuffed green pepper. Bingo!

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Pepper

Gather:
1 green bell pepper
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 sweet onion, diced
1 Roma tomato, diced
1/4 pound of flank steak, sliced thin

Preheat oven to 350. Then slice off the top of the green pepper, diced that up. Add diced green pepper and onions to a saute pan, added some thinly sliced beef and cooked until meat is browned.

Toss mixture with diced fresh Roma tomato (my favorite kind cause they don’t get all squishy when you cut them) and some shredded cheese. Scoop into make-shift pepper bowl.

Place on cookie sheet. (Now this is where I went wrong.) Cook on low broil and the magic (or so I thought) of cooking begins.

So when the top browned and the cheese melted, I thought it was done and took it out.

Notice the browned cheese. I thought that meant done. Unfortunately, I opened it up and the pepper was still crisp and kinda cold. So instead of freaking out (which I totally contemplated at first), I put the half I had left back into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Turns out if I had done that in the beginning, it would have been cooked through.

But I did end up with this stuffed pepper:

Moral, patience is a virtue. And twice baked peppers isn’t too bad.

 

 

 

 

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August 16, 2012 by
Food

Winning Spicy Chicken Sub

I got hungry again. And thank goodness I made those chicken parm sandwiches the other night or else I would just be eyeing the boxes of rice and pasta on my shelf as potential dinner. I also found (after a not so lengthy hunt of my fridge) that I had some leftover fresh salsa I had made the other day. Yippee!

I also had leftover rolls and some Mexican blend cheese, something I almost always have on hand. You never know when it’s time for nachos. Plus it goes on just about anything. I’d melt the cheese on an old shoe if I thought it would taste good.

So I cut the chicken breast in half and started to season it. Maybe a little liberally. What can I say? I’ve always loved spicy food. Dashed a bit of sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder on the chicken and then placed it in some hot olive oil in the pan to cook it through.

On the side I was slicing open that roll and placed a healthy (that’s a word for A LOT) of fresh salsa on the top part of the open roll. Dressed that with some cheese and then placed the spicy chicken on the other side.

And then to the oven on low broil. I have to say that I almost burned it, because one of my friends stopped by to drop off some jewelry I had bought. I got a little distracted and then remembered I had the oven on. Let’s just say that I probably gave those Olympic gold medalists a run for their money. But, alas, I ended up with this. A perfect toast!

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August 14, 2012 by
Food, Savory

Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches

The intent was not to be impressive. But impress I did. Let me back up a bit. I love chicken Parmesan. I love it so much that I’ve been making it since I was old enough to reach the stove (the first few times were under the skilled eye of my mother until she realized I wouldn’t burn the house down). So when I was watching television with a friend recently and they were showing some dive that sells chicken parm sandwiches, I was like, “hey, I could totally do that.” I mean really, you’re swapping out pasta for bread.

My friend, however, has this notion that making chicken parm is some sort of old secret that takes days to make. Like it’s some labored over meal that only 4-foot tall Italian grandmothers wearing sauce stained aprons can make. Let me set the record straight. I may not be the aforementioned cook, but I can still cook up a food coma worthy meal – and all with half the time. Believe me, you can make this.  I’ll even share my secrets.

Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches

The basics:
Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Fresh Mozzarella
Homemade pasta sauce or your favorite brand (I like to grab Prego’s Roasted Garlic and Herb)
4C bread crumbs (seasoned)
one egg
your spice rack
Olive Oil
Hearty hoagie (sub, whatever you want to call them) rolls

Cut the chicken in half length ways so you end up with four pieces. Dredge in a beaten egg and then coat with the 4C bread crumbs (I tend to toss a bit of cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic powder in as well).

Fry in a skillet with a thin layer of olive oil until cooked through. Remove from the heat and place on paper towels to get rid of some of the grease. Believe me, you’ll thank me later. I love olive oil, but there is something about a soggy, oil-infused chicken breast that I just can’t stand. And here comes my favorite part: the mozzarella.

I don’t know if it was that I was bread on mozzarella sticks, or that I have a secret crush on pizza. Either way, every time I buy mozzarella, I know I should expect about half of it to be eaten (by me) before it ever touches the food I’m cooking. It’s delicious. As an appetizer with a bit of fresh Roma tomato and some herbs. I die, it’s so good.

But back to dinner. Cut the mozzarella into thin (maybe quarter inch thick) pieces.

Cut the rolls open, lay them on the cooking sheet and spread a layer of pasta sauce on the bread. Place your chicken on top, another dabble of sauce, and then two piece of that mozzarella on top. You should have something that looks like this:I broil it on low for about six minutes (but it depends on your stove). Just so that the cheese gets a little brown and the bread is toasted. Pull it out, let it cool, and serve it up. I think it took longer for us to go to the grocery store and get everything than to make it. I have successfully convinced my friend that yes, in fact, you can make a fabulous meal in less than an hour. (Total was probably about 45 minutes, including time to open beers, put on the A/C, and find the baking sheet.)

I know this isn’t some miraculous dish that I just served up, but it’s one of the most crowd pleasing things to make, and it’s quite easy to make everyone feel like you spent hours slaving over the stove to make it. Just tell them you made the sauce yourself. How will they ever know?

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August 13, 2012 by
Food

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes, how I love thee. I’ve been inspired by one of my friends to start this up again. She’s one of those cute little things that can take tissue paper, turn it into decorations and everyone goes “awww, that’s so cute!” Me, not so much. I usually try really hard, fail about three or four times and then miraculously get whatever craft I’m working on to sort of work. So that’s why I bake and cook. Being able to eat my mistakes is way more satisfying. It also allows me to get rid of the evidence way faster than waiting for the weekly trash pick up.

Today was a bit deary outside. Okay, a lot dreary with lots of rain and no plans but to sit around in my pajamas all day. So I threw in some laundry (it piles up so fast, where does it comes from?!?) and decided it was time to bake some cupcakes. I arranged my ingredients.

 

And then got to work. Mixed the batter and added about 1/3 of a cup of mini chocolate chips.


Lined my tins with the most girly cupcake liners I have and baked them for about 20 minutes. Then I realized I wanted to experiment. This is usually where things tend to go wrong, because I think you can substitute just about anything in a recipe. Believe me, it doesn’t always work. Like when I scoured our cabinets for cocoa powder. We don’t have any. But we did have hot cocoa mix. That’s the same thing, right?

Mixed about three big scoops into the remaining batter (avoiding the mini marshmallows) and went to town filling the tins with the new concoction. I have to say, it wasn’t a bad idea. They even turned out alright. Just a light brown look to them.

However, during all this time making these, I didn’t even consider that I had no frosting in the house, nor the ingredients to make it from scratch. Whoops. A few minutes searching around my brain for an alternative ultimately took me to the most recent episode of Cupcake Wars (that amazing show on Food Network where they compete and make cupcakes (who eats the leftovers??)). They had made this glaze and put it on top. Now, I know nothing about glazes. I once used a double boiler to make soap with my mom. Some homey craft she thought I’d love. Note: it is much easier to buy a bar of soap than mold it into the shape of a rose. Anyway, I decided to take my mini chocolate chips and make a glaze.

Half a cup of mini chocolate chips and a tablespoon of margarine, as well as half a tablespoon of water, using a glass pie pan as a double boiler.

It took about five minutes to get it pretty smooth, but it worked. Only problem was I didn’t make enough to cover all the cupcakes. Oh well, not everyone likes frosting. But, it was a successful afternoon. I ended up with these:
Now I just have to find someone to eat all these cupcakes. Thank God I have two roommates.

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August 12, 2012 by