0014. Jerk Chicken and Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers

Jerk Chicken and Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers

Ingredients

• 1/3 (cup) 1/3 cup sliced green onions, divided
• 1/3 (cup) 1/3 cup chopped shallots, divided
• 1 (tablespoon) 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 3 (tablespoon) 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
• 2 (tablespoon) 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 (teaspoon) 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 4 4 garlic cloves
• 1 1 large serrano chile, stemmed
• 8 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
• 1/4 (teaspoon) 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Cooking spray
• 1/3 (cup) 1/3 cup (3 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 2 (tablespoon) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 (tablespoon) 2 tablespoons light sour cream
• 8 8 mini bell peppers

Directions

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat. After preheating, reduce one side to low.
2. Combine 1/4 cup green onions, 1/4 cup shallots, sugar, 2 tablespoons juice, oil, allspice, garlic, and serrano in a mini food processor; process until smooth. Combine half of onion mixture and chicken in a medium bowl; toss well. Sprinkle with salt.
3. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Cover and grill 5 minutes on each side. Move chicken over low heat. Cover and grill 5 minutes on each side or until done. Brush chicken with remaining onion mixture.
4. Combine remaining green onions, remaining shallots, remaining juice, cheese, cilantro, and sour cream. Halve bell peppers lengthwise; discard seeds. Divide cheese mixture evenly among pepper halves. Place peppers on grill rack coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Grill 7 minutes or until peppers are lightly charred

Check out this recipe at Food on the Tablehttp://foodonthetable.com/recipes/395882

0013. Sausage and Sauerkraut Casserole

Sausage and Sauerkraut Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 (cup) uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1 (pound) ground pork sausage
• 1 (16.0 ounce can) diced tomatoes
• 1 (cup) sauerkraut
• 1 (teaspoon) sugar
• 4 (tablespoon) shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown sausage in a skillet,; drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Add tomatoes, sauerkraut, and sugar to pork and cook for 2 minutes. Drain macaroni; stir into skillet along with cheese. Spoon into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Check out this recipe at Food on the Tablehttp://foodonthetable.com/recipes/4445

**I used half hot Italian sausage and half regular sausage. This was a HUGE mistake, since I can't handle spicy things at all (PK loves spicy - I was being nice). I will never do that again. My mouth is ON FIRE. From now on, I'm sticking to regular ol' ground pork.**

***I used egg noodles in lieu of elbow macaroni, since I didn't have any.***

0012. Cuban Pork

4 Servings, Prep Time: 15 Minutes, Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 (1 1/4 pound) pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into 8 slices
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 clove garlic, pressed

Directions:

Flatten the pork tenderloin slices slightly, and set aside. In a bowl, mix together the lime zest, olive oil, cumin, salt, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Reserve the lime juice. Rub the seasoning mixture onto both sides of the pork slices.
Spray a heavy skillet or ridged grill pan with cooking spray, and place over medium heat. Pan-fry the pork slices until browned on both sides, 6 to 7 minutes per side. After you turn the meat over, pour the reserved lime juice over the meat and continue cooking until no longer pink in the center. Serve hot, topped with pan juices.

Side dishes: rice & black beans

Nutritional Information:

Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 176

Carbohydrates: 2.3g
Dietary Fiber: 0.6g
Cholesterol: 79.0mg
Protein: 25.8g
Fat: 6.7g
Sodium: 346.7mg

Recipe taken from AllRecipes.com

0011. peanut butter bread

Found this recipe in a book that my mom got for Monkey since she's showing an interest in baking with both of us (I bake a LOT when I'm stressed out... and I tend to stress when we have exams, and my mom just loves to bake anyway). So, when I was moping over at my mom's today after one of the worst school-related days EVER, I stumbled across this peanut butter gem (I have a serious obsession with peanut butter... I may or may not eat it directly out of the jar on crap days) and decided to make it tonight.

the finished product - I smeared a slice with homemade blackberry jam (courtesy of my neighbor) and it was HEAVEN)

0010. baked spaghetti

I haven't tried this one yet, but I want to. Looks yummy. Got it in my email today, and I've been craving baked spaghetti like crazy.

Basic Baked Spaghetti

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In large skillet, cook hamburger until brown. Mix spaghetti sauce into skillet. Reduce heat and simmer.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Mix in pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. Mix together spaghetti and meat mixture, pour into 9x13 pan. Top with cheese and bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is bubbly.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 547 | Total Fat: 17.7g | Cholesterol: 63mg

0009. Lemon Garlic Orange Roughy

PK loves orange roughy, but I've never made it before. So I jumped on SparkPeople.com to find a recipe that looked good. You wouldn't believe how many recipes there are for orange roughy! I made PK sit down with me to look through them all, and we finally decided on this one. He was a little hesitant about it because he's tired of lemon juice with fish (it's my go-to when I'm cooking fish and I tend to go a little overboard, since I hate the taste of fishy-tasting fish, lol), but the rest of the ingredients looked yummy, so we decided to give it a go. It was a resounding success. He went back for seconds and asked for thirds, but by then Monkey and I had already finished off ours. Too bad, I was really hoping for leftovers for lunch tomorrow. We paired it with rice pilaf and fresh snow peas. Nomnomnom.

Lemon Garlic Orange Roughy

Ingredients

1 lemon
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
12 oz orange roughy
1/5 tsp each paprika and cumin
1 tsp pepper
salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

squeeze lemon juice into a zip top bag large enough for fish. add garlic and red pepper flakes, shake bag and marinate in fridge for 30 min. in a small bowl mix paprika and cumin, s & p; rub spice into both sides of fish. heat the oil in a large nonstick skilletover med heat. add the fish flesh side down and cook for 6 minutes. flip and cook another 6 minutes.

3 oz a serving.

Number of Servings: 3

0008. bacon cheeseburger quiche

I got this recipe from Alisha Rai on Twitter. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure that PK is going to LOVE IT. I can't wait to try it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to jack up the amount of bacon in the recipe since he loves it so much. Seriously, he once told me he'd put bacon on ice cream... yeah. :)

Ingredients

1 lb. very lean hamburger
1 small chopped onion
4 slices crisp-cooked bacon, chopped in bits
3 eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise (too much! use a few squirts of Kraft chipotle mayo - nomnomnom)
1/2 cup half-n-half
8 oz. shredded chedder or swiss cheese
garlic powder to taste (optional)
white pepper

Directions
Brown hamburger in skillet with onion. Remove and mix in bowl with
bacon pieces, breaking up any larger clumps with a fork or pastry mixer
until you have a fine mix. Drain well of any excess grease and press into the bottom of a deep-dish pie pan. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine remaining ingredients in mixer bowl and whip well. Pour
mixture over beef "crust" and bake 40-45 minutes until top is browned and
"set".
Cool 15- 20 minutes before slicing. This can be packaged in Ziplocs or
plastic containers for meals quickly microwaved over the next 3-5 days. (Does not freeze well, though.

Serves 6. 2 grams per serving.