Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapples

Does anyone else feel like Asian food is kind of addicting? I think it's the sauce. The sauce is always delicious and makes me want to eat more rice. Although it's not a traditional Asian recipe by any means, I was definitely addicted to these sauce-covered meatballs.

This was really easy to make but tastes like it took awhile. If you like spice, up the crushed red pepper.

Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapples

Source: The Pioneer Woman

1 1/4 lb ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 whole egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, more to taste

1/4 cup All-Purpose flour

canola oil, for frying

2 whole green peppers, seeded and diced roughly

1 1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks

2 cups beef stock

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 cup sherry or wine vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

salt to taste

crushed red pepper to taste

extra beef stock, if needed

rice, cooked (optional)

Combine ground beef, diced onion, egg, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and crushed red pepper. Mix well with hands until combined. Roll meat mixture into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Freeze on the pan for 15 minutes to firm.

Mix together beef stock, soy sauce, sherry (or vinegar, sugar, and cornstarch.

Heat canola oil over medium-high heat. Roll meatballs in flour, then fry in two batches until nice and brown, about 2 minutes per batch. Remove meatballs and set aside on a separate plate.

Pour off oil from pan and return pan to medium-high heat. When pan is hot, throw in the chopped green peppers and cook for one minute. Add pineapple to pan and cook for one minute, stirring gently. Pour in stock/soy sauce mixture, then add meatballs. Stir gently to combine and cook for one minute, or until sauce is thickened. Add salt and crushed red peppers to taste.

Serve over cooked rice. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Week: Dinner in a Pumpkin

When you're married to someone in the military, you learn lots of stuff. You learn nothing is ever set in stone until it's already happened. You learn to hurry up and then wait. You learn a whole lotta TLA's and FLA's (that's three letter acronyms and four/five letter acronyms). You learn ranks and other military things. But one of the most important things you learn is that friends can be just like family.

It's an important lesson when you're over 2000 miles from home and your close family members. So you take your friendly family (family friends?) and make the best of being far from home. You make new traditions. Like going to the pumpkin patch when it's 80º outside. Here's a few pictures from the pumpkin patch before you get your next pumpkin recipe!

Clockwise from top left: Some of the best people I know out here and the group that came with us to the pumpkin patch (look closely-the lady tried to crop Stout out from the bottom). Stout feeding goats at the pumpkin farm. The guys get a little crazy when thy are all together-plus DADT was repealed so there's nothing holding them back (kidding). Neil and his bestie, Stout.

Left: Our roomie, Michael, and his girlfriend, Whitney. They are kinda the cutest couple I know. Right: Me, the hubs, and his awkward picture takingness :)

Left: Neil, Jar, and Stout showing off their human totem poll skills and their uber-closeness. Right: Karisa (who gifted me with the pumpkin butter and joined us for a pumpkin dinner) and her husband, Ivan.

The pumpkin patch was almost as awesome as the people we went with. It was Neil and I's second time going to Bates Nut Farm and we were glad to have everyone along with us. While we were there, Karisa suggested doing dinner in a pumpkin so we made a date. On Friday, she and her hubby came over and we wowed the guys with our pumpkin presentation skills.

That's right, dinner was served inside the pumpkin! The pumpkin became the bowl/cooking receptacle and what made it even better was that you could scrape some of the pumpkin off the side and enjoy it with your dinner.

I'm not a mushroom person but this was delicious. You could do all types off things inside these pumpkin bowls (pumpkin chile, anyone?) but I definitely suggest following the recipe below.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Source: The Mother Huddle

4 small pumpkins or 1 medium pumpkin (use 4 if you want everyone to have their own individual pumpkin bowl)

1.5 lbs ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup celery, chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 can sliced mushrooms

1 small can cream of chicken soup

1-1/2 cups cooked rice

1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained

Preheat oven to 350º. Wash the outer surface of the pumpkins thoroughly. Cut a circle in the top, just like if you were going to carve the pumpkin. Remember to slant the knife so that the lid doesn't fall straight through. Clean out all of the seeds and stringy pulp. Rinse well and set aside.

Heat the oil in a sauce pan. Add ground beef and cook until brown, drain. Add onion and celery and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Once, the vegetables are done, add the brown sugar, soy sauce, cream of chicken soup, mushrooms, cooked rice, and water chestnuts. Mix well.

Place the cleaned pumpkins on a cookie sheet. Scoop the mixture into the pumpkin and place the pumpkin top back on. Put the pumpkins into the oven and cook for 1-2 hours. Check after an hour. The cooking time will vary according to size of the pumpkin. Our little ones took just over an hour. You will know it is done when the pumpkin is tender and the mixture is bubbling all the way through.

Serve warm. Enjoy!

Arroz Con Pollo

Back in high school, I originally planned on taking all four years of spanish and minoring in it in college and going out into "the real world" with a valuable skill. That plan ended my sophomore year with Mrs. Baker. Don't get me wrong, she was a wonderfully nice lady and a good teacher, but she had my older sister a year before me so her expectations were set way too high.

Every time I did bad on a quiz, she would hand it back with a sad little, "Pobre Dana," even though she knew my name was Tyler. If I did good it was always "Dana" who got the felicitas (I think that's the right word for congrats). She also had a nice little southern accent and let me tell you, spanish is hard enough to learn without throwing in the southern accent. I'd attempt to show you how she spoke her southern spanish but "Como say yahma" doesn't come out quite the same over the internet as it would in real life.

That ended my dreams of being a spanish minor. I dropped it the next year. Sometimes I wish I had kept up with it, especially since I now live in southern California.

Anyways, the point of that little story is that I can proudly translate my post title as "Chicken with Rice," or maybe "Rice with Chicken." I can't remember how the order of words go but I do remember the 3 weeks we spent in Spanish 2 learning everything grocery related and spanish hitting words on the board with a fly swatter when she called them out in English. What- your teacher didn't allow you to aggressively push someone out of the way just so you could hit "la leche" when she yelled out milk? You missed out. Big time.

Arroz Con Pollo

Source: Mrs. D Loves to Eat

2 lbs chicken pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1 chicken bouillon cube

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp dry thyme

1 bay leaf

2 cups long grain rice

4 cups water

Brown chicken pieces in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add vegetables and garlic and continue to saute until translucent. Add rice, thyme, and bay leaf; stir for about a minute. Add water, bouillon, and tomato paste. Stir well and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes. Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking another 10 minutes. Do not lift the lid (It makes the rice gummy). Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Shrimp Lo Mein and Japanese Steakhouse White Sauce

I'm horrible with New Years Resolutions. One of mine for this blog was to post at least two times a week and here I am updating for the first time in a month. The hubs had to go to the field for some military exercise for the last month and I would be embarrassed to post what I ate this past month. I did get to eat a few dishes with beans, which the hubby hates, but other than that there were quite a few nights where I hit up the drive-thru...

But I'm back! And I thought I'd start it out with this gem of a recipe from Food.com. It's not exactly authentic Chinese food, especially since I subbed spinach for bok choy (that is one expensive and hard to find ingredient), but it is delicious.

2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 cup soy sauce

8 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

6 cloves garlic, minced

4 tsp sesame oil, divided

12 ounces snow peas

2 cups shredded carrots

1 head bok choy, sliced (I substituted spinach)

1 15 oz can chicken broth

7 scallions, sliced

12 oz fettuccine, cooked and drained

Combine first five ingredients and set aside for 10 minutes. In a skillet or wok, heat 1 tsp oil over high heat. Drain shrimp, reserving soy mixture. Cook shrimp until pink, 2-3 minutes. Remove from skillet.

Add 1 tbsp oil to skillet, then add peas and carrots and cook 1 minute. Add to shrimp. Cook cabbage in skillet with remaining oil 1 minute. Combine broth and reserved soy mixture and add to skillet, along with shrimp mixture. Cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and mix in scallion and fettucini. Enjoy!

The white sauce recipe can be found here. This sauce is pretty much the only reason I go out to eat at Japanese places. I love this sauce and his recipe is practically identical in taste. The person who posted this recipe asked to be linked instead of copied so follow the link above. Be sure to chill it overnight because that really helps the flavors mix.

WC Recipe Swap: Chicken with Green Olives, Black Beans and Saffron Rice

One of the posters on a cooking board I frequent recently suggested a recipe swap featuring chicken. I thought this was a great idea because you can never have enough chicken recipes! I submitted my Honey Balsamic Glazed Chicken that I made a few weeks ago and received this one in return.

I was a little nervous before getting my recipe because I wasn't sure what I would be getting! The WC Board has a range of skills and I was afraid I'd end up with a complicated recipe I didn't understand with ingredients I had no clue where to find. Luckily, I didn't.

This was a relatively simple and easy to put together recipe. I didn't make the beans because the hubs is not a fan, as you know. The flavors of this recipe complemented each other and the hubby went back for sec err... thirds. Next time I make this and there will be a next time, I might use boneless, skinless thighs since I have this weird thing about meat on bones. Overall, I'd definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who likes olives! Recipe adapted from Nestie nunyabeeswax.

Chicken

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

1 small jar Spanish green olives

1.5 cups white wine

1 cup chicken stock

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

4 tbsp olive oil

Black Beans

1 pkg dried black beans

2 onions

1 head of garlic

1 bunch cilantro

stock or water (enough to cover beans)

Saffron Rice

3 cups white jasmine rice or basmati rice

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

3.5 cups chicken stock

2 tsp saffron threads

1 tsp turmeric

For the beans, rinse and check dried beans thoroughly. Peel and quarter the onions and place in a large stock pot. Peel and smash the garlic and add to pot along with the beans and cilantro. Cover with stock or water, at least 3 inches above. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until soft.

For the chicken, preheat the oven to 350º. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown in 2 tbsp of olive oil on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Add remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and saute onion until almost translucent then add garlic and saute another minute. Deglaze the pan with wine, allowing the alcohol to cook off. Stir in chicken stock and green olives. Add chicken back to the pan and pour ingredients into an oven-safe pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until heated through.

For the rice, start by toasting the rice in the butter and olive oil for about 3 minutes. Stir in the turmeric and then add the chicken stock and saffron. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered until rice has absorbed stock, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit with lid on for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken Enchiladas

This is one of the deleted posts so sorry, no picture.

Whenever I make dishes involving chipotle peppers, I usually try to include 2 recipes that need them on my meal list. I can't handle a lot of spice and even though this is smokey spicy, I still only use a few and we always have at least a half a can left over. When I put the Spicy Chipotle Shredded Beef on the menu this week, I had a hard time finding another recipe using chipotle peppers. I found this one on Pineapple Grass and decided to add it to our menu!

It was delicious and the filling made a ton. A nice twist to your usual enchilada filling and sauce!

3 large tortillas (we had lots of filling leftover so I suggest having more on hand just in case)

1.5 cups cooked rice (we used brown rice, but yellow or white would be fine)

1 cup cooked, shredded chicken

1 chipotle chile

2 tbsp adobo sauce, from can

3/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese (reserve 1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 350º. In a small bowl, combine chopped chile, adobo sauce, and salsa. In a large bowl, combine rice, chicken, sour cream and 3/4 cup shredded cheese. Add half of the salsa mixture to the chicken mixture. Divide evenly between the three tortillas and roll up. Place seam-side down in an 8x8 baking dish.

Top enchiladas with remaining salsa mixture and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Enchilada Rice Casserole

We love Mexican food in our house but sometimes all the dishes kind of seem similar. I loved this one because the addition of two kinds of rices is not something we normally have in our mexican dishes. This recipe on Mandy's blog was delicious, simple and cheesy, my favorite kind of recipe.

1 lb ground beef or turkey, cooked and drained

1 cup brown rice, cooked

1 5 oz package of Mahatma Saffron Yellow rice, cooked

2 10 oz cans of enchilada sauce

2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese

Mix first four ingredients together and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

I wish casseroles were easier to photograph but I couldn't resist showing all the cheesy goodness on top!

Stuffed Peppers

I'm not really a fan of cooked vegetables; I prefer them raw. Give me a stalk of broccoli and some vinegar and I'm set but try to feed me cooked broccoli covered in cheese and I'll have to be rude and decline. So when I put stuffed peppers on the menu this week, I was a little hesitant. But since I don't mind peppers in a stir fry or on my philly cheesesteak, I decided to try it out.

I like stuffed peppers for the same reason I like stuffed shells: there are so many different ways you can make them. These could be made with a vegetarian mixture, you could stuff them with spaghetti and meat sauce, beans and rice, the list could go on and on!

This recipes is from Allrecipes with a few revisions.

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice

1 cup water

6 green peppers (we only used 4 but we had plenty of meat/rice mixture left over)

1 tablespooon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1 16 oz jar of spaghetti sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350º. Place the rice and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes until done. Meanwhile, season the beef with garlic and onion powder and then cook the beef evenly in a skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Put the peppers into boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then quickly put into ice water. In a glass baking dish, spread enough spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom of the dish. Arrange peppers in baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upwards.

In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Use the remaining spaghetti sauce to cover the stuffed peppers.

Bake for 45 minutes in oven and enjoy!

Fried Rice

My first attempt at cooking Asian turned out great! Our Chinese usually comes in the form of styrofoam take out boxes from Panda Express, so when I decided to attempt cooking fried rice my husband was both excited and a little apprehensive. But it turned out great! It tasted just like my favorite take out!

Ingredients:
1 cup leftover meats - pork, chicken, beef, seafood
1-2 eggs
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 onion finely diced
3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped vegetables (fresh or frozen)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons light or dark soy sauce
1-2 cups prepared rice, cold (or day old)

Directions:
In a hot skillet or wok, heat oil.
Add garlic and onions & stir.
Add leftover meats of your choice, chopped up in bite sized pieces.
Stir fry meats until you get them a bit crispy.
Push the meats aside and crack eggs into the pan.
Scramble the eggs into the pan until cooked.
Add cold rice over the eggs & meat into the pan, making sure to crumble it in your fingers. (Dumping a large chunk of rice is not going to work here. You need to crumble it so it separates nicely).
Add salt, pepper, onion & garlic powders and soy sauce; toss.
Allow the rice to heat up and absorb the spices and soy sauce, tossing to help it along.
Add the fresh or frozen veggies and toss into the rice.
Continue cooking it all on high heat until rice is heated through and veggies are cooked.

I found this recipe on deliciousmelicious.com. I modified it a little bit and ended up making two batches because there were three of us eating dinner. I made vegetable fried rice so I left out the meats. Normally, fried rice usually has peas and carrots mixed in but we only had peas and corn so that's what I used.