Only 23 days left until Halloween and I have a confession to make. I was done with my Halloween recipes for this year. In fact, I'd already moved the recipes that I didn't get to this year, to my list of ideas for next year. I even went so far as to take down my dining room decorations (eek!) so I could begin planning my Thanksgiving table and decorations. So when I found myself home last week and made these little monsters, I was surprised that they came together so easily and that they turned out so creepy-cute and yummy! So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I may still have a few more Halloween recipes in me to share before the big day, Oct 31st!
The beauty of this idea is that these peppers can be stuffed with basically anything. Go traditional with ground beef and rice, or make breakfast with scrambled eggs and ham, or even add taco meat, beans, cheese, and salsa for a delicious taco salad over a bed cabbage. How about Indian spiced lentils and tandoori chicken...Yum! Change up the green pepper to orange peppers and carve out some jack-o-lanterns like these. The possibilities are endlessly delicious and fun! Bell peppers are one of my favorite ingredients and I use them in many of my recipes. But, I know not everyone likes bell peppers, including my kiddos. Not to worry. The best part about this dish and all it's variations, is that it'll save you from having to pick these little buggers out of your kid's food. Just eat the filling and leave the pepper behind! At least that's how I'll sell this dish to my kids.
All kiddo-ing aside, these will make a great addition to a festive Halloween dinner as the perfect side dish or as a stunning main dish. Personally, I like the idea of these delicious potatoes getting so much attention with such a fun presentation because, side dishes are often better than the main course. Happy Halloween! Franken-peppers (Stuffed Peppers with Potatoes, Chorizo and Onions)
Serves 4
2 T canola oil 6 medium potatoes, peeled, medium dice 1 medium yellow onion, diced2 cloves garlic, minced1 T smoked paprika1 t. cuminsalt and pepper (to taste) 8 oz. Chorizo (I used Soy Chorizo)green onions, choppedcilantro leaves Spicy Tomato Sauce, or substitute with prepared Enchilada Sauce 4 Green Bell Peppers, carvedPepper Jack Cheese, shredded Spicy Tomato Sauce1/2 cup vegetable broth3 T tomato paste 1/2 T apple cider vinegar1 T honey1 t. cumin1 t. smoked paprikasalt and pepper (to taste)red chili flakes (to taste)Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, add canola oil, potatoes, onions and garlic, cumin and smoked paprika and cook over medium heat until potatoes are mostly done, about 10 minutes. It's okay if they are not completely cooked as they will finish cooking in the oven. Add chorizo and heat until hot. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Add green onions and cilantro. Set aside. An a small saucepan, add all ingredients for the Spicy Tomato Sauce and heat over medium heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Taste and add additional spices as needed to taste. Cut Bell Peppers tops off with a paring knife in a zig-zag pattern to make Frankenstein's hairline. Carefully remove top and remove remaining ribs from inside the bell pepper with your fingers or scrape with a spoon. Cut off seeds from the top and set aside.Using a large diameter straw, push straw through the fleshy inside of the pepper to create Frankenstein's eyes, using your finger on the shiny outside as resistance, to help cut through the exterior. Cut out eyebrows, nose and mouth with the paring knife and add scars with the tip of the blade. Assembly: Baste the inside of bell peppers generously with the spicy tomato sauce. Fill each bell pepper with potato chorizo mixture and replace the tops. Place stuffed peppers in a shallow casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cook peppers for 30-35 minutes. Remove peppers from oven and add shredded Pepper Jack Cheese to tops of peppers and return to the oven. Bake an additional 10 minutes or place under the broiler to melt cheese. Remove from oven and serve. For other Halloween recipes to try, click here.  |
| Spider Caviar |
 |
| Nightcrawlers con Funghi |
It's been a crazy busy start to 2016! I've been so busy at school that I've scarcely had time to cook, let alone felt like cooking. This is a very bad thing in my house. Not wanting to cook means eating out. And eating out means eating meals that are quick, but not very good for you. Which means weigh gain for me. Okay, I've gained a wee bit of weight because of this busy/lazy period these last few months, but I'm getting back in gear. I see an end to my crazy schedule approaching so I can cook all these great ideas I have swimming in my head and scribbled on the backs of envelopes. To get started on the right track here's a recipe that has bounced around my head since Christmas time. I finally made some time to putter around my kitchen on Superbowl Sunday and these super delicious Chorizo Meatballs with Chimichurri Pesto came to life! These meatballs are made with ground turkey and soy chorizo so they are lighter in calories and fat than ones made with ground beef and beef chorizo. They are incredibly satisfying and full of flavor all by themselves. But the chimichurri pesto just knocks these meatballs out of the park! I wanted to make a sauce with these but thought a traditional chimichurri would be too oily, so I decided to add some cotija cheese and pine nuts to give it a texture more reminiscent of pesto. And I was so right! We had them as an appetizer while watching the big game, but since this was all I ate that night, they also ended up making a wonderful Tapas dinner. Enjoy!Albondigas with Chimichurri Pesto
Makes ~24 Meatballs
1.25 lb of ground turkey12 oz. soy chorizo1/2-3/4 cup plain bread crumbs1/2 cup grated Cotija cheese 3 T parsley, dried1 egg Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and roll into small 1 inch meatballs. Place meatballs on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. After baking, toss these meatballs into a skillet to brown the outsides a little bit more. Place a tablespoon of chimichurri pesto (see recipe below) on a serving plate and place a skewered meatball on top and sprinkle with a little extra cotija cheese and serve.
Chimichurri Pesto
1 bunch of cilantro1/4 cup of onion1 garlic clove1 jalapeno pepper, seeded chopped1/2 cup cotija cheese, grated1/4 cup pine nutsjuice and zest of one lime1 T apple cider vinegar 3 T olive oil salt (to taste)Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend on high until well blended. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use. This sauce is great the next day as the flavors have more time to meld. Top meatballs with 1 T of chimichurri pesto and devour. Enjoy! Other Meatball recipes to try:
Salisbury Meatballs with Kale Greek Meatballs Spicy Asian Meatball Soup
My old dog, Bo-a Black Lab mix, loved to play fetch. That dog could play for hours and hours, and often times he did. Bo would play fetch with just about anything you could throw, not just balls...Empty cans, balled up socks, empty milk cartons, cardboard boxes, anything. He would chase it down and return it, ready for another go. We adopted him as a hyper-active six month old puppy. He was lanky and uncoordinated but essentially full size. At the time, we lived in a rural area in San Luis Obispo on four acres of land. Bo was a country dog for sure. No fence could contain him, trust me! The dog was like Houdini, he got out of every enclosure. He dug under fences, muscled through gates and even scaled over a fence and walked along the top, like a cat, just to get out. He even snapped one of those steel screw-in dog tethers. The ones you screw into the yard and then you attach a long leash so he still has movement. Yep, we came home from work and that baby was snapped clean off. The screw portion still firmly screwed into the ground. Eventually, we gave up containment and just left him to guard the property each morning as we went to work. He stayed nearby...most of the time...and waited for us to get home. He'd hear us drive up the single lane road that lead to our quarter mile long drive way. He would run at top speed from wherever he was, tail wagging, tongue hanging outside of his big grinning mouth. He was so happy to see us and he let us know every day. He was such a great dog. :)So one Halloween, we bought this really large pumpkin for our porch. It was about 100 pounds, it was huge. We left it there for many months after Halloween because it was too big and too beautiful to throw away. Eventually though, we had to get rid of it. It had started to get soft in some areas. A forest of Coastal Live Oaks surrounded our house which was perched over a steep, scrub-brush laden ravine.The ravine was the perfect spot to compost this lovely gourd so we decided to roll it down the hill. We rolled it over to the lip of the ravine and let er rip. It started to pick up speed as it lumbered down the steep hillside. Almost instantly, as if we'd thrown a tennis ball...Bo took off in a flash to chase it down. We yelled, "No! No Bo! Stop!" But he was not deterred in the slightest. He was going to fetch that pumpkin! We laughed so hard as we watched Bo chase down that pumpkin. Of course? we thought, Why wouldn't he chase it? It was round and moving fast, just like a ball. So we waited to see what he would do when faced with this monstrous pumpkin at the bottom of the hill. The pumpkin hit hard and cracked in half. And wouldn't you know it...two minutes later, Bo had dragged one half of this huge pumpkin back up the hill! The half was literally his size. He had his teeth sunk in the flesh of the pumpkin and then he released it in front of us, panting. He looked up at us, wagging his tail, waiting, in ready position, for us to throw it back down the hill again! We laughed and laughed until our sides hurt. All the while, Bo looked at us, anxious to chase it down again. :)I'm not sure why I woke up thinking about Bo this morning, and why I chose to write about him rather than zucchini, but I had to share this funny story about my Bo. He's been gone for many years now but I'm thankful for the wonderful memory that greeted me this morning and reminded me of all the wonderful years I had with him. Love you Bobo. About the recipe:These enchiladas are so delicious and have no meat in them. You know the recipe is a good one when you can fool a meat-loving husband. I gave my husband one to try for dinner but I didn't tell him what was in them. When he asked for seconds, I told him, "You realize that there is no meat in those?" He looked at me like I was crazy, "Yes there is." He replied, looking very confused. I broke the news to him and he was utterly amazed. So amazed in fact, he had three of these babies in one sitting. Enjoy!
Zucchini Enchiladas with Soy Chorizo and Black Beans (slightly adapted recipe from Cuisine at Home, July/Aug 2014, p.39)Makes 810 oz. soy chorizo1 T olive oil 1 cup yellow onions, diced1 T garlic, minced1 t dried oregano1 t ground cumin1 t ground coriander1-15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed1-4 oz can diced green chilessalt and pepper to taste1-15 oz can of red enchilada sauce4 zucchini, halved lengthwise8 oz. shredded pepper jack cheese
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
For the filling, cook the chorizo in a large saute pan over medium high heat until browned, transfer into medium bowl and set aside. Soy chorizo doesn't render much fat to drain away so you will need to add 1 T of olive oil into the pan to saute your vegetables. (If you prefer to use beef or pork chorizo, drain chorizo in a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl to remove the fat. Return 1 T of drippings back to pan.) Over medium high heat saute onions, garlic, cumin and coriander in olive oil (or drippings) until onions are softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in beans and chiles. Return browned chorizo to pan and season with salt and pepper. Spread 1/4 cup enchilada sauce in bottom of an 11 x 15 inch baking dish.
Prepare zucchini, scoop out and discard seeds, leaving 1/4 inch flesh and place in dish. Spoon three heaping tablespoons of filling into each boat. Spoon remaining sauce over zucchini and sprinkle with cheese evenly over tops.Cover dish with foil and roast for 15 minutes. Remove foil and roast enchiladas until zucchini are fork tender and cheese melts,15-20 minutes. Let enchiladas rest for 5 minutes. Top with cilantro and sour cream and serve.Other Zucchini recipes to try:Zucchini BruschettaZucchini Ribbon Summer SaladHeirloom Tomato Salad with Maui Onions and Zucchini
