4 med. green peppers
1 lb. ground beef (cooked)
2 cup cooked white rice
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 8 oz. can tomato sauce
Halve green peppers lengthwise
Remove seeds and wash
Lightly mix:
cooked ground beef
rice
onion
salt
pepper
1/2 can tomato sauce
Pile lightly into pepper halves
Put in baking dish
Pour remaining tomato sauce over peppers
Cover tightly
Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until peppers are tender
12 oz. drained canned red kidney beans
1/4 cup (4oz can) drained whole green chili peppers minced
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tbls. chili powder
1/2 teas. oregano leaves
1/4 teas. salt
1/8 teas. hot sauce
Dash ground cumin
4 corn tortillas
4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese shredded
Preheat oven to 400
In medium bowl, using the back of a fork, mash kidney beans to a paste; add chili peppers, onion and seasonings and mix well. Set aside
Break each tortilla in half; on baking sheet or sheet of foil bake tortilla halves until crisp, about 2 min.
Remove from oven,but do not turn oven off
Arrange baked halves, curved-sid out and overlapping around edge of 8 in. pie plate, spread kidney bean mixture evenly over tortillas, leaving a tortilla border all the way around.
Sprinkle mixture with cheese and bake until cheese is melted and pie is hot, about 15 min.
Serves 4
Base Recipe:
Grease shallow 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish
Clean (not sliced) 1 lb mushrooms with 1-2 in. caps
Cut off stems from caps.
Place caps open side up in casserole dish.
Set aside.
Finely chop mushroom stems
Heat in skillet:
2 tbls. olive oil and add mushroom stems
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 clove garlic finely chopped
cook slowly until lightly browned
Meanwhile combine:
1/3 cup (slice fine) dry bread crumbs
3 tbls. grated parmesan cheese
1 tbls. chopped parsley
1/2 teas. salt
1/8 teas. oregano
Mix in onion, garlic, and stems. Pile mixture lightly into inverted caps
Pour in casserole 2 tbls. olive oil.
Bake at 400 15-20 min. or until mushrooms are tender and tops are browned
serves 6-8 people
In this busy world of ours many people find themselves working more hours than they would like to. Add the daily commute and the odd after work drink onto the daily schedule and you can see why ready meals have become very popular.
After a very busy day at the office it is so much easier to put a ready made meal into the microwave or oven than prepare it is to prepare a meal using fresh ingredients. All that chopping, peeling and what have you, it just doesn’t seem worth it – all you want to do is kick back, watch TV and unwind.
This is an understandable approach to eating an evening meal, especially if you live alone or with your partner. I guess most people balance their eating habits between ready meals and cooking form scratch, but what if you start to eat too many ready meals? Is that going to be beneficial for your long term health?
The main reasons people tend to eat ready meals is to save money and to save time, but what if those things could be achieved and, if you are a non cook, you could learn a new skill at the time same? Would that make you feel more like preparing your own meals?
The truth is it is possible to prepare meals made from fresh ingredients very quickly.
Salad is a prime example. All you need is some fresh ingredients, a chopping knife and the meal is ready in five minutes. There are plenty of salad dressings around which can enhance a boring plate of greens if the thought of all that green stuff does doesn’t do much for you.
Another quick meal is stir fry. It is possible to buy fresh stir fry mixes from most stores. Stir fry can go from packet to plate to stomach in 15 minutes.
At my website, Quick Free Recipes, you will find lots of ideas for quick meals.
To accomplish this, learning to multitask is a must. In other words learn to do more than one thing at a time effectively. Here are a few points you might want to pay attention to in mastering how to cook.
Increase the preparation time before cooking your meal, it is absolutely necessary if you want to become a speedier cook any time soon.
You must read over your recipe(s) before starting to cook. This will save you much stress in the kitchen and give you plenty of time to solve any dilemmas you may encounter. Preparing a dish and finding out you need cilantro and jalipanos and you forgot to pick them up at the market is no fun and obviously greatly adds to your cooking time, not to mention your stress.
I like to get everything I’m going to need together, usually the day before the meal is to be prepared, especially if I’m entertaining guest.
To gather what I will need for the meal, I simply follow the order that the ingredients are used in the recipe, this allows me to be sure that I have everything I will need. It keeps me organized and assures that I don’t miss anything.
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When you are sure you have everything, measure out all of the ingredients according
to your recipe. Next organize all of your ingredients on one side of the work area.
This lets you keep track of all of your ingredients as you use them.
One by one as you use these ingredients, transfer them to the opposite side of the work area. This will eliminate confusion and you won’t double use ingrediences, which could be disastrous to your meal.
This next step is very important. Avoid cross contamination at all cost! Use a cutting board for all of your non-meat items first, then follow with your meats. If you have to prepare your meats first, wash the cutting board thoroughly with soap before using it for any other food items.
I eliminate any possibility of cross contamination simply by using three different cutting boards when I cook.
Keep a sink of hot soapy water available for quick clean ups and utensil cross contamination. Just throw used utensils in to soak while you move on to prepare other parts of you’re meal. Doing this will not only keep your cooking area uncluttered, but it will greatly speed up the cleanup process when your done.
Using your hands to mix ingrediences, I find to be more efficient than using utensils in most cases and cuts out a lot of clean up afterwards. You just have to wash your hands a lot. However utilizing this practice will speed up your cooking process also.
So to sum up. Prior preparation, hot soapy water, efficient organization and being touchy feelly with your food makes for an outstanding meal prepared in record time.
Enjoy cooking your home cooked meals and if your sending out invitations I’m always up for a great meal!
Visit http://apassion4cooking.com to learn more about home cooked meals. You can also view many free videos demonstrating how to cook and easy cooking recipes.
A while back someone asked me about dogs’ ears having a foul odor. Well, for the last ten years and still continuing. Our family cocker spaniel, Brandy, has also had his ears medicated off and on for chromic ear infections. Many people stand by the fact that home cooked meals for their dogs has helped very much to lessen or remove ear infections.
Yes, he has had his ears cleaned and deep cleaned by the vet and all of the above have relieved the symptoms, but none have cured his ear infections.
Are you continuing to have the same problems with your floppy eared dogs?
Through the years he has built a resistance to the medications and I am exasperated. I too have turned to home cooked meals and raw meat. Now I am one of those people who swear that the change in nutrition has made a big difference.
Foods which are harmful to dogs and should not be included are:
Alcohol
Chocolates
Caffeine
Macadamia nuts
Grapes
Raisins
Salt, sugar, artificial sugars
Flour
Yeast
Corn on the cob
Onions and garlic
Mushrooms
Nutmeg
Avocados
Dairy products
As you may well know, whenever you change foods for your pets it needs to be a gradual process.
I have been giving my dog both raw meats and home cooked foods. Make changes slowly in order to observe changes.
Unexpected Results:
No hot spots
Minimizing or completely removing cysts
Pleasant breath
Ear Infections Results:
The ear infections have been greatly reduced. Ears need to be cleaned a minimum of twice a week.
Some people are skittish working with raw meat. Prepare raw meat the same way you prepare for your family. Work with fresh meat, clean utensils, clean cutting board, and keep doggies dishes clean. I cut meat at one time and portion into serving sizes and freeze what is not being used for the day.
There are excellent home cooked recipes which can be found in many books, pet trade magazines, and Online.
It needs repeating that chocolate is toxic to dogs because it contains a chemical called Theo bromine. In the office of my veterinarian is a special poster available for the public to read.
There is a new garden mulch product which contains Theo bromine. The mulch product supposedly retards cats from entering your garden and dogs are said not to eat it. It has been discovered dogs are dying from this mulch. The poster indicated that death can occur within a few hours or about eighteen hours after ingestion.
Are you tired of struggling with infected ears or other health maladies?
Discover how home cooked foods are a blessing for correcting health maladies caused by poor nutrition. Visit the pet section at http://www.Infotrish.com and review Dog Food Secrets.
I have many interests which have permitted me a gypsy-like and an out of the ordinary lifestyle. Currently I would like to introduce and share with you hobbies and business opportunities which may be used for personal recreation or as income for your financial success.
Andrea Howick walks you through another super simple family favorite: Low-fat fish n chips that your kids will love. Fish n’ Chips doesn’t need to be fried and after trying this recipe, you’ll know know why. For more information, award-winning parenting advice, craft ideas, recipes or looking to connect with other parents? Head over to WhereParentsTalk.com
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