Mussels, Clams, and Shrimp with Linguine…YUMMMM

So I realized the last time I updated my blog I said I would post this recipe…and I didn’t, but luckily today I made this recipe again.  There is just something about a beautiful Sunday afternoon that makes me want to eat seafood and drink white wine.  So again, that’s just what I did today!

This recipe is one that you can just throw together with whatever you have on hand, or go and get the exact ingredients.  It is what you make it!

What You Will Need:

2 small white onions or shallots(you’d need probably 3-4 of these) chopped

a few cloves of garlic- minced

EVOO(Extra Virgin Olive Oil for all you non-Rachael Ray fans)- a few turns of the pan

Butter– 2-3 tablespoons(I used unsalted and it was fine)

2 cups(approx) of white wine- today I used a combination of leftover Sake and Riesling, and it worked well.  You could probably even use beer…otherwise if you don’t want to use alcohol, go with chicken broth or clam juice(you can buy it at the grocery store in a small bottle near the Seafood Dept).

2 tomatoes chopped

italian seasoning(or fresh basil, parsley or cilantro) whatever green herbs you might have on hand

mussels– uncooked- I don’t know how much I bought, probably like 15-20 mussels, they are super cheap at the store, I’d guess it was like half a pound?

clams- uncooked- same amount as the mussels(more or less depending on how many you need to feed) I used about 15 clams

1/3 lb. Pre-cooked shrimp(I HATE peeling shrimp so I bought the pre-cooked because I knew it was already peeled)

tomato sauce- as much or as little as you like, I just had a little in the refrigerator, probably like a 1/3 of a cup…if you like a thicker red sauce use more…

Whole Wheat Linguine- as much or as little as you want(depending on how many you are feeding of course!)

What You Need To Do:

Rinse the clams, mussels and shrimp(peel/de-vein etc if you bought raw)  Apparently now because clams and mussels that you purchase at the grocery store are “farm raised” they don’t have much sand, etc. in them, and don’t really need to be cleaned at all.  I just put in a colander and rinse for a minute or two.

In a heavy bottom deep saute pan(the bigger the better- important that it’s deep and that you have a cover for it) met the butter and add the EVOO.  Turn stove top to medium heat.  Add the onions/shallots, and garlic.  Saute for a few minutes, like 4-5 until they soften.  Add wine/sake/beer/chicken stock(whatever you’re using) and heat until it starts bubbling.  Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce, and whatever italian seasoning/herbs you are using.  Mix together, and then add the clams and mussels to the pan.  If you are using raw shrimp, add it now as well.   Cover the pan and let cook for a few minutes(3-4) then check on the mussels and clams to see if they are opening, clams take a little longer.  After 8-10 minutes, the mussels and clams should be opened, if any are not open, throw those away- they aren’t good and you’ll get very sick if you eat them!!

While all this seafood excitement is happening, boil water and cook your pasta.  Once it’s drained and the sauce is finished(shells are open), add pasta to the pan with the sauce and mix together.  Use tongs to dish out.  And make sure you put bowls on the table to discard the shells while you are eating.

Please refer to my previous post for pictures.

Wine Pairing:  I am in a Riesling phase, but any white will do.

ENJOY!!!  This is a delicious dish, have fun with it!

A Short Update…

Sooo…I don’t know how many people are actually following me on this blog, but I figured I’d updated anyone who was listening on my recent adventures in cooking, gardening etc.

My Garden:

It’s getting huge!  Well the parts that are still existing since a little “creature” has eaten away some items are growing since what is left has been fenced in and doing much better.  It’s too dark out now to take a picture, but I will post one soon.  Unfortunately my cucumber plant is gone, and the dill is still existing but is a very small little stalk, hoping it pulls through.  The jalepeno plant has a little pepper growing, it’s about 2 inches long.  The tomato plants are huge and flowering, so I’m taking that as a good sign.  The squash was eaten away some but has come back and is getting huge, no flowers yet.  I was able to use some parsley, basil and cilantro today in a recipe for a seafood pasta dish(picture below).

Cooking:

I’ve been lazy, and have tried a few new recipes but nothing that I really wanted to share.  I also had a slight “accident” in the kitchen last week using a hand mixer(emulsifier mixer) instead of a mixer/beater to blend cream cheese to make little cheesecakes, and ended up with stitches because I got too close to the blade.  I did re-attempt to make them this afternoon(with prewhipped cream cheese) and it worked well.  I will post the recipe and the recipe for the dinner I made earlier, in upcoming posts.

I hope everyone is well and I hope to get back to regular posting soon…

My First Garden!!!

This is a short but sweet post…about my wonderful new little garden that I planted today.  It is my first attempt at anything like this…so who knows how it will go, but it looks pretty good for a first attempt if I do say so myself.  It’s small, but if it takes and starts growing, in approximately 50-70 days I will have my own home-grown cucumbers, crookneck squash(the yellow ones), Roma tomatoes, another type of tomato(the name escapes me right now but it’s some type of hybrid with a beefsteak), jalepeno peppers, yellow peppers, dill, cilantro, parsley and basil.

I am excited!!!  Take a look for yourself…

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to Tommy P for building the planter for the project, and really, basically doing all except putting the plants in the ground.  You are truly the BEST!  I guess if it works, I will be cooking up a storm with the fruits of our labor!

Who knows maybe next year I’ll take on starting from seeds……hmm…that’s something I’ll have to think long and hard about.

Vegetable CousCous Salad

I know, I know, it’s been a while…too long, but life has gotten busy and it’s getting warm out!!!  Which leads me to this very recipe that I am able to share with all you fine people out there.

This was an attempt at a “pasta” salad for an improptu bbq on Saturday, without the heaviness that is sometimes associated with pasta salad.  I was also attempting to prevent myself from eating the leftover pasta salad every meal for the next 2 days(which is what I normally do).

Anyway…I don’t have any pictures today, and the recipe is pretty much as easy as they come…as usual.

What You’ll Need:

2 5.7 ounce boxes of couscous– or whatever the standard size of those little boxes are, any flavor will do, I used one garlic and olive oil and one parmesan cheese, the flavors mixed well.

Feta Cheese- umm I used about half of the plastic container they come in from the store, you can just judge it on your own.

Grape Tomatoes- approx 3/4 of one of the plastic containers from the store, I quartered these

1 cucumber(or less if you don’t like that much) cut up into small pieces, I’d say you can get 6 small pieces from a regular “slice” of cucumber.

Half of a pepper(I used orange, but any will do)- cut up into small pieces, the same size as the tomatoes and cucumber.

salt and pepper

olive oil

fresh lemon

Here’s What You Do:

Prepare the couscous as the directions state, I just mixed both together(doubled the water, etc).  Once it’s done, add all the chopped veggies, feta, add salt and pepper to taste, about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and the juice of one whole lemon.  Mix and serve.

This was pretty delicious and definitely worked well as a lighter pasta dish.  For everyone out there who doesn’t know(I didn’t for a while) couscous is actually a small pasta, it’s not a grain(like rice) like I had originally thought, but it went will with the rest of the standard bbq food, burgers, hot dogs, salad. etc.

Best part about it, you can eat it hot, cold, room temperature, etc.  I have had it each way and it’s equally delicious, and has lasted for a few days, so you can totally make ahead if you know you’re going to a picnic, etc.

Meatball Salad…

Well…the title of this post says it all.  This is my interpretation of an appetizer at my favorite italian restaurant, Cafe Goodfellas in New Haven, CT.  If you have never been there, check it out.  The food and atmosphere are like nothing else you have ever experienced, I assure you.  Without going  into a huge amount of detail, it’s fantastic, classic italian food(with a slight gourmet flare) with flatscreen tvs playing classic, italian, mob movies(think Goodfellas or The Godfather) in a dark, cozy, pretty romantic(now that I think about it) but LOUD restaurant.  They also have an awesome wine list, and make great martinis…I could go on and on but I’ll say it again, if you’ve never been, GO!!!  You will thank me for it…I promise.

Ok…back to the reason for the post, the meatball salad.  It’s a pretty simple recipe really, basically meatballs, marinara sauce and a very simple salad.

Here’s What You Need…

1(about 1.25 lbs) package of “meatloaf mix” it’s a mixture of ground veal, pork and beef(if you can’t find it or don’t do red meat, ground turkey or beef will work just fine)

2 eggs

1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese

1/2 cup italian seasoned breadcrumbs

a few fresh basil leaves, chopped(if you have it, if you don’t, you can leave it out)

a couple cloves of fresh garlic minced(again, use the fresh stuff, the pre-minced stuff doesn’t taste as good)

salt and pepper(approx a half teaspoon of each)

nutmeg(I don’t use it because I don’t have it, but Rachael Ray swears by it, if you do use it, just put a couple dashes or a couple grates if you are using fresh).

2 cups-ish of your favorite marinara sauce(or homemade- I make it in bulk and freeze it, but I don’t know if I can share my sauce recipe…haha)

romaine lettuce-chopped into smaller pieces(I buy the prepackaged already chopped stuff)

fresh lemon(important!!)

olive oil

vidalia onion(also important, don’t use standard white onion here)

What To Do…

First step is to make your meatballs.   Pre-heat your oven to about 375 and spray the bottom of a 13×9 glass baking pan with cooking spray so the meatballs don’t stick.  Add ingredients from the list from the top(ground meat) to the nutmeg into a mixing bowl.  Combine well, unfortunately this usually requires using your hands, it just doesn’t mix as well if you do it with a spoon.  Your hands will already be dirty to start the rolling of your meatballs!!!  Roll into balls, the size is a personal preference, but the bigger they are the longer they take to cook.  I usually make them smaller sized, like an 1.5 inches in diameter, the 1.25 lb. will make probably 12-15 smaller meatballs.  Once lined up on the glass baking pan, with space between so they don’t stick together, pop in the oven for 20 or so minutes.  I wish I was better as cooking times, but usually about 18 minutes in I will take a meatball out and cut it in half, if it’s still red keep them cooking, you can tell by checking the “ruined” meatball when they are fully cooked.  Be sure to taste test at this point!!

While the meatballs are cooking, lay your lettuce in your serving plates, a good amount for each person, since this is a “meal” sized salad.  Very thinly slice the onion(as much as you like) and spread over your lettuce.  Dress the lettuce with olive oil(normal amount you would use on a salad) and squeeze fresh lemon juice as the “acid” in the dressing, so I’d say a quarter of a lemon for each salad would be fine.

Heat your sauce up in a saucepan.  When the meatballs are done cooking, take them out of the oven and place on paper towels on a dish, this will soak up extra oil/fat that comes out.  You may even want to cover them/pat them with paper towels to get the excuse fat off.  Once you do this, put the meatballs in the saucepan with your warmed sauce.

The final step is to lay your meatballs and sauce over the lettuce.  I usually do like 3-4 smaller meatballs to a salad, you don’t need a ton of sauce on top of the lettuce, just what comes with the “dressed” meatballs and maybe a little extra.

It looks like this…

Meatball Salad

And it tastes…delicious.  I usually got strange reactions when I talk about this dish, but eating is believing.  I think it’s all in the combination of the fresh lemon juice and the tomato sauce that really make it taste great.  I owe my inspiration to Cafe Goodfella…if you aren’t convinced to make this dish yourself, first head over to CG and taste theirs.  You’ll want to eat it everyday…

Thomas- if you’re reading this, you might have to give a testimony to how goes this actually tastes…

Vermont Breweries!!!!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen…seems like it’s been forever since I posted, ok more like 2 weeks…but I had plans on last Thursday Night so I did not make a “Hungry Thursday” meal…

This is a short post…mostly because I am not a beer drinker.  I will drink it, and sometimes almost enjoy it, but I will not pretend to be a beer connoisseur of any kind.

That being said…Tommy P and I were hosted by a fantastic couple up in Quechee, VT(you know who you are and hopefully you are reading this…thank you again, sooo, soo much fun!) on Easter Weekend.  If you’ve never been to Quechee, I highly recommend it.  It’s an awesome area, there is a Simon Pierce Factory, where you can watch live glass blowing, and a gorge to hike(which we could not because of the SNOW on April 23rd), fruit orchards, cheese farms, and probably a million other things I have not seen in my 3 visits there, and of course BREWERIES!!!  PS I just looked up the plural form of the brewery because that didn’t look right, but it is, I assure you.

The first brewery was Longtrail Brewery…

Different taps at Longtrail

Now I have more pictures of the “sampler” that I had there(basically 6 large shot glasses of different beers they have) but I don’t have access to the pictures right at this moment, so I guess we will do without.  Just another reason I need a digital camera.  My favorite beer here was the Pale Ale, because, let’s face it, it’s the most girly.  I have to say it still has a strong aftertaste for being so light, something I am not really fond of, but I’m not going to go into detail on that because I will probably just make myself sound like an idiot because I don’t know much about beer. 

 

Anyway, the atmosphere was cool, they serve POPCORN out of one of the cool push cart popcorn machines, and they have your basic bar menu and a super friendly bartender.  It was a fun place, definitely check it out if you are in the Bridgewater Corners, VT area.

 

The Second Brewery was Harpoon…

 

I had been to Harpoon once before when visiting Quechee on an earlier visit, and had a pleasant experience both times.  Definitely check this place out if you can when it’s nice out, they have outdoor seating and it’s just a really cool vibe.  Unfortunately, we were stuck inside because it was SNOWING on April 23rd.  I only had the UFO Hefeweizen while there, but it was definitely more of my kind of beer(you know the ones they serve with an orange slice).  We ate lunch here, they have a slightly more developed menu with different sandwiches and paninis.  I didn’t take a picture of what I had, but it was a turkey, Vermont cheddar and apple sandwich, which was a lovely combo.  I did however, take a picture of my beer…

 

 

Can’t you tell we were in VT by the flannel shirt in the background?? Hahaha…anyway, another place to definitely check out if you are in the Windsor, VT area.

 

Stay tuned…I’ve got more posts coming up later tonight…

Beef and Spinach Rice Noodles…

As promised…here is my new Thursday Night post.  I have recently subscribed to Cooking Light Magazine…and found this recipe while reading last week and decided on this recipe as my post this week.  I’m not really sure how copyrights, etc. work so here’s a link to the actual recipe from the magazine(I found it online at Cookinglight.com , check it out if you have a chance, great resource for recipes, tips etc.)

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/stir-fried-rice-noodles-50400000111136/

Apparently they partner with myrecipes.com, which is also a pretty cool site that I don’t know a whole lot about, but will look at some more at some point when I have more time, and perhaps write a blog post about that!

So before I go into the recipe, let me just say this, the magazine said this was a “shortcut meal” and said that it would take a total time of 24 minutes to prep and make.  It took closer to 50 minutes for me.  Still definitely a “quicker” meal…but enough “going on” to take longer for 24 minutes, at least for me.

What You’ll Need:

6 Ounces wide rice noodles(found them in the “Thai” section of the grocery store)

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 cup sliced green onion(which I believe to be scallions, so that is what I used)

2/3 lb of steak, their recipe calls for sirloin steak, I used london broil because that’s what I had, it needs to be cut into thin strips

2 cups chopped mushrooms, their recipe called for shiitake caps, but I couldn’t figure out which mushrooms were shiitake so I went with Portobello caps and they worked fine

2 cloves of minced garlic

6 ounces of baby spinach(you can find this in the pre-packed salad area of the grocery store)

2 tablespoons rice vinegar(this was an ingredient I had to buy, but I’m sure any other vinegar would work just fine)

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, which equalled about half of a lime squeezed(*tips* this I learned from Rachael Ray, if your limes or lemons are hard, put them in the microwave for a few seconds-like 20ish, and it will get the “juices flowing”, also another tip from Erin, keep the lime once it’s squeezed, if you have a garbage disposal, it makes it smell “clean”, just put it down the hole and flip the switch like normal)

3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger(another tip from Rachael Ray, buy fresh ginger and store it in a plastic bag in the freezer, they when you need it, you have it)  I grated it on a cheese grater, probably only used a teaspoon but it definitely still had the flavor of ginger

2 teaspoons Sriracha Sauce- red chile paste sauce(found in the Chinese area of the grocery store, picture below) if you don’t want to buy it, you can probably just use as much crushed red pepper flake as you like instead

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil- I had regular “not dark” sesame oil and I used that

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds- I skipped this part 1. because I don’t like “toasting” sesame seeds, and 2. I was hungry and wanted to eat it not decorate it after it was done

What You Need To Do:

Cook the noodles as the directions on the box state, I have found with rice noodles the package will give you different options for preparing them, I usually go with the “boiling” method, as opposed to the “soaking” method, but I’m sure either is fine.  Once cooked, run under cold water and drain.  Set aside.

Making the sauce- add vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, grated ginger, and Sriracha all together in a bowl and whisk.

Heat a large skillet(or wok but I don’t have one) on high.  Make sure it’s big, I had to switch pans midway because I realized it wasn’t going to be big enough.  Heat the canola oil and cover the bottom of the pan with oil(by picking up and moving around until the bottom is coated)  Then add the “green onions” and steak.  Cook for about a minute.  Then add the mushrooms and garlic.  You could honestly probably add all these ingredients at the beginning and it would work fine.  Once this cooks for a minute or two, add the spinach, and cook until it’s wilted.  Add the sauce at this time, and cook making sure to stir occasionally, for a minute or so.  Then add the cooked noodles, sesame oil and the salt.  Stir together until well mixed, and it is basically done with the noodles are warm.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if your little heart so desires them.

It looked like this when it was done…

Ok so here’s my review…tasted ok, I added extra vinegar and Sriracha sauce at the end because I feared it wouldn’t have enough flavor.  My version with the extra sauce added was super, super spicy, my nose was running by the end of the meal.  It was a decent dish, I think it could have used a bit of “sweet” because there was a lot of tangy/spicy…I’ll post again if I make this again and change the recipe.  The spinach didn’t add much in the way of flavor at all, but it’s good for you so I guess it doesn’t hurt.  I say try it for yourself and see how you like it!

Thanks for reading…I am headed to VT this weekend and to a brewery(Longtrail or Harpoon, haven’t decided yet) will hopefully have a review of one for you after the weekend…if I don’t do too many “tastings”.

Happy Hungry Thursday, and Happy Easter Everyone, have a great weekend!!!

BBQ Pulled Chicken and Coleslaw…

Hello Hello, Happy Hungry Thursday!!!  I decided that I would designate Thursday Night as my recipe trying night…hence my blogging night…since I for some reason find that I usually cook “new” things on Thursday Night, maybe it’s because I don’t have to work on Fridays, but that’s a story for another time.

So this week is a delicious combo, well a healthy version of a delicious combo of pulled pork and coleslaw sandwiches…so I have gone ahead and swapped the pork for chicken and made a healthier version of coleslaw, and of course swapped out delicious buttered rolls for a more calorie conservative roll.

I am in one of my rambling moods, so I will apologize in advance.  If you know me, I sometimes ramble in an email, and occasionally in a voicemail,  those are usually gems that last about 3 minutes, and usually the given cellphone provider just cuts me off and hangs up on me, leaving me then to decide if I should call back, text back or just cross my fingers the message went through and move on with my day.  Ok so anyway, back to the recipes, or the reason why I started this paragraph.  Did I mention that part of the reason I started this blog was because I secretly(well no longer a secret) want to be Rachael Ray.  So lucky for my followers, most of my recipes will be pretty quick and simple and not too crazy with ingredients.  I have been known to, on occasion, race Rachael Ray at dinnertime, which means I cook while watching her and see if I can finish my dinner before she finishes hers, granted they are different meals, but non-the-less still fun.  Try it sometime, I guarantee you a memorable experience!

Ok so for the recipes…

BBQ Pulled Chicken

1.5- 2 lb boneless, skinless raw chicken breast

salt and pepper to taste(red pepper flake if you like spice)

1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce(you won’t need  the whole thing, I used KC Masterpiece Original Flavor)

Coleslaw

1 bag of Dole pre-cut coleslaw(about 1.5 cups, I have found only Dole brand at Stop and Shop but if you find another brand go for it)

3 packets of Splenda

3 tablespoons of light mayo

1.5 tablespoons of vinegar(hahaha this word’s spelling makes me laugh)

sweet pickle relish(optional)

I told you I was going simple on ingredients, and wait until you see how easy this is.

How to Make:

Boil some water, and drop the chicken into the pan to “poach”.  I would like to say I know how long this takes, but I usually boil it for like 5 minutes, take out the pieces and cut them in half, then put them back in, and basically keep checking until they aren’t pink any longer.  It doesn’t matter if you cut them up because you are going to shred it anyway.  While the water boils and the chicken starts cooking, make the coleslaw.

The coleslaw is pretty much as easy as adding all the above ingredients in a bowl and letting it sit.  It doesn’t look like a ton of dressing, but as it sits it will coat itself without getting soggy.  I added the splenda instead of the 2 tablespoons of sugar the original recipe asked for and it tasted good to me(I also pretty much live on splenda and sweet and low), but if you don’t like artificial sweetener, go for the real stuff.  I also snacked on the coleslaw while I waited for the chicken to cook.

Once the chicken is done(I would say probably 15 minutes , just make sure it is no longer pink inside) take the chicken out and place on a flat dish or cutting board.  Here’s where you “pull” the chicken.  Take 2 forks or a fork and a knife, and shred the chicken apart, into smaller pieces.  Don’t shred too much though, I left them chunkier, if you shred too much it’ll be mushy once it is dressed.

Once the chicken is “pulled” put in a mixing bowl, salt and pepper if desired(I used red pepper flake here because I love spicy food) and then add the BBQ sauce until the chicken mixture is covered.  I used about a third of a bottle for the amount of chicken that made about 4 sandwiches.

Once both mixtures are ready, toast your bread, I used one of the “100 Calorie” flatbread thins, toasted it and then loaded on the chicken mixture followed by the coleslaw.  I added some sweet pickle relish to my coleslaw because I really wanted to put pickles on this sandwich and that was the closest thing I had on hand.

Here’s my photo of the finished product…this blog has already convinced me that I need a digital camera, because currently I am using my phone for my photograhy…so this explains the lack of pictures/quality of pictures. 

Yum!

 

Thanks for reading…if you are and enjoy!  I have to say the tangy/spicy chicken and the sweet/tangy coleslaw is an awesome combo.  Sorry the picture is a little blurry, I’d take another, but already ate the evidence!

See you next Hungry Thursday…or before.

Stuffed Peppers…

Soooo…the night I started this blog was the night I also made a delicious dinner that I sort of took a bunch of different recipes and mixed all together to come up with my very own, that’s right, stuffed peppers.  Since I have been trying to eat healthier and start working out again, this was a good recipe with lots of protein, not a ton of carbs and veggies.  It’s also very “italian inspired”, I wanted  them to sort of be like little “stuffed pepper pizzas” if that makes any sense.  

So here goes….

Ingredients:

Fresh large red peppers(I used 3)

3/4 lb of 93% lean ground beef

2/3 of a 5.8 ox box of couscous(I used the garlic and olive oil flavor)

1 green zucchini squash shredded(I used a cheese grater to do this, love this technique)

1/2 medium white onion chopped(I love Vidalia but any will do)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 can of italian style diced tomato(don’t throw the juice away)

a few tablespoons pizza/marinara sauce

sprinkle of mozz cheese

pecorino/romano cheese

little bit of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

How to make-

Cut the tops off the peppers, and then cut in half lengthwise(so they are “open-faced”), make sure you clean out all the seeds…I used red peppers, because for anyone that knows me I HATE GREEN PEPPERS.  And yes I can easily tell the difference in flavor, haha.  But I have noticed that green peppers are usually shorter and fatter and probably better for “stuffing” in that you can just cut the top off and clean them out and fill them from the top.  So if you want to use green peppers go ahead, just don’t tell me about it!! haha

Take a deep glass dish, or cover a deeper cookie sheet with foil, and pour down the juice from the diced tomatoes, under the peppers so that when they cook they don’t stick.

Sautee the garlic, onions and zucchini squash with a little olive oil in a non-stick pan for about 5 minutes or until they are soft.  There will be a decent amount of liquid that comes out of the zucchini, so when it’s done, be sure to strain the water out, and set this mixture aside.

Prepare the couscous as directed on the box(you will have extra leftover, to come up with a different way to use, or as a side dish for tomorrow’s lunch).

In the non-stick pan, brown the ground beef until cooked.  Once off the heat, also strain this for excess water and fat.

In a mixing bowl, take the zucchini mixture, the browned beef and the prepared couscous, and the diced tomatoes and combine until well mixed.

Take this mixture and stuff the “open-faced” peppers.  The mixture pretty much fit perfectly into my 6 open face halves of peppers, but you may want to have more on hand incase you come up with some extra stuffing.

Once the peppers are stuffed, pour a tablespoon or so of the marinara sauce over the pepper, and then sprinkle lightly with mozz cheese and pecorino romano(or Parmigiano).

Pop in a 375-400 Degree preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!!  I am working in another program to calculate the calories for this dish, will post when it complete, but in the meantime this is what my finished product looked like…or in other words my dinner that evening…

Hello Followers(wishful thinking…)

Sooo….this is me starting a blog about food, recipes, wine, booze, restaurants, all  the things I love.  Honestly, I sat down and thought about why I really have been itching to write a blog like this, and it occured to me that outside of working and sleeping, basically all my “free” time is dedicated to food and alcohol and all that come with my two favorite things.  Much of my time is spent grocery shopping(or writing “lists” in my blackberry about what I need at the grocery store), cooking, looking up recipes, looking at restaurant websites, going to restaurants, drinking wine and other beverages, looking up delicious drink recipes, cleaning my kitchen, etc.

And I have to admit, I’ve been looking for a new hobby for quite some time…so this just seems appropriate.  I hope to update you often on different culinary experiences I have, including the recipes for the DELICIOUS dinner I made tonight!  Great food is an inspiration to me and I hope this blog will help inspire you…

Sooo…CHEERS to starting this adventure in food, drink, etc with me, and please bear with me, I’m not as technologically advanced as I used to be, so it might take a while to figure this whole thing out 🙂