Stuffed Peppers

This afternoon Byrd and I went through the what's for dinner dance. Since she had a hair appointment it was up to me. Although I love our local Publix, I hate going to the grocery store. So my plan was to go through the pantry, freezer, fridge and come up with dinner. I found somethings I could work with. Stuffed peppers it is. I cut off the top of the bell pepper, in this case we had red, clean out the ribs and seeds. I hate to throw away food so I diced the tops to in the stuffing. Then place them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Then set them aside to cool.

I took the casing off of a link of hot Italian sausage and cooked it with some diced onions and the diced top of the pepper. Removed it from the pan then cooked some chicken tenders then cut them into bite size pieces. We had a box of Olive Oil and Garlic couscous so I cooked it according to the directions on the box. Then it all goes in a bowl. Once mixed into the now cool peppers.

We also had some feta left over from our trip to the Sweet Home Cheese Farm. I crumbled it up and on top it goes. Then into the oven on 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I topped them off with some diced tomato and green onion. Other than bacon, which can top any food and make it better, these two are my choices for toppings.

The first time I stuffed peppers it was with rice and ground beef. This one has come a long way. I am glad I didn't have to go to the store tonight and still had a great dinner for us. On a side note: Right now Byrd is eating a lot of ice cream. I don't usually partake, but lately she has been buying the Girl Scout Cookie flavors of Edy's. If you haven't had the pleasure and like the cookies the ice cream is great!

Boneless Pork Chops

Boneless pork chops are not one of my favorite thing to cook. They are always dry and tasteless, of course this is due to how I cook them. It never ends well for me. But I refuse to give up, and they were on special at our local Publix. I seasoned these with salt and pepper, onion powder and smoked paprika. I browned them in a little butter, and by a little I mean 2 tablespoons. I am always worried about drying out boneless pork chops, so they may have been on each side for about 2 minutes. Then removed them from the pan.

These potato wedges are a common theme these days. I think they are Byrds favorite pregnant food.

The mushrooms were a test. Trying to make them taste like some we had at a local restaurant. And I will say they were really close. Sauteed in butter with a little salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, steak seasoning, and season salt. Let all the butter soak into the mushrooms then added a couple teaspoons of water, and reduced heat to low.

Back to my idea of how not to dry out the pork chops, this time. With no wine or stock in the house, I dissolved a beef bouillon cube in a couple cups of water and used this to deglaze the pan. When I got everything off the bottom of the pan I added the chops back. Then covered and let simmer for about 8 mins.

All together it made a great plate.

This attempt at pork chops was much better than the last several. They were tender, juicy, and full of flavor. With the added mushrooms it was a great dinner. I no longer have the fear of cooking boneless pork chops.