Mini/Maxi Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers

These are wonderfully flavorful, and the whole thing can be made ahead - for the refrigerator or freezer!!  It's very healthy, with brown rice, turkey sausage, and the only other fat coming from the cheese on top (which you could leave off, I suppose) I had most of a bag of those cute mini sweet bell peppers leftover from another dish, and this was the perfect way to use them up.  But you could also just use regular large bell peppers and cut them in half (for the maxi).  I've made lots of extra stuffing in the pan for kids, or others who aren't fans of bell peppers.  These could even be healthy appetizers at a buffet - enjoy!


Mini/Maxi Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers

2C dry brown rice + 4C water (or 6C cooked leftover rice)

about 12 mini sweet bell peppers, or 6 large ones, cut in half
    note - you could probably use 3-4 doz mini peppers or more, but i wanted lots of 
    extra filling for the kiddos ;-)

1 20oz package turkey italian sausage (sweet or hot)
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon marjorum
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt

28 oz diced or crushed tomatoes
8ox tomato sauce

2C shredded provolone or mozzarella cheese (or about 12 slices) (or sub cheddar, but it will be less italian ;-)

1. Heat the oven to 350.
2. Start your rice - place 2C dry long grain brown rice and 4C water in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook slowly for about 45-60 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid is gone.  You can turn off the heat when there is just a small amount of liquid left, but leave the lid on to steam for about 15 more minutes.
3. Meanwhile, begin to brown the Italian turkey sausage.  If you have links, slice the skin open and remove it - cook the ground meat until it begins to brown.  Add the onions and all the spices and cook until the meat is cooked through. note - this seems like a lot of seasonings, but remember we are mixing it with all that plain rice and plain tomatoes.
4. Also meanwhile, make a long slit into the side of each mini pepper (or cut whole peppers in half, and clean out the veins).  Place the slit side down on a dinner plate, add a couple tablespoons of water, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 5 minutes.  Remove from the microwave to cool, but leave them covered with the wrap to continue steaming.
5. Put it all together - in a large mixing bowl, place the hot cooked rice, seasoned meat and diced tomatoes.  Toss well until combined.  Stuff each pepper with filling - it's fine to have the seam a bit open. (I tried using a small spoon, but honestly, my fingers worked better)
6. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with oil.  Pour the rest of the meat/rice filling into the dish.  Arrange the peppers on top, seam side down, squishing them down into the rice a bit.  Make them in rows, or a fun pattern!  Spoon the tomato sauce over the peppers - this keeps the skins from burning, and makes a kind of caramelized sticky crust.
7. Spray a sheet of foil with oil, then cover the dish (oil side down, of course)  Bake for 45 minutes.
8. Remove from oven, uncover, and sprinkle the whole dish with cheese (or lay slices over all).  Return to the oven (do not cover) increase temp to 400, and bake about 15 more minutes, or until cheese is bubble and browned.

For buffet appetizers, use enough mini peppers to use all the stuffing, and place them slit side up with just a drizzle of tomato sauce, and uncovered on a baking sheet.  Roast at 400 for about 20-25 minutes When they are tender and beginning to blacken, sprinkle with cheese and broil.  

The whole dish can be made ahead and kept in the fridge.  Bake for 1 hour the first time, then 15 minutes with the cheese.

To freeze, instead of spraying a casserole in step 6, line it with heavy foil.  Assemble the whole dish (without cheese) and place in the freezer until hard.  Pop the foil out of the pan, then wrap well with more foil, then plastic wrap, label and place back in the freezer.  When you are ready to cook, remove the outer layers of plastic and foil, and plop the original foiled casserole into the original pan. Bake, covered at 350 for 2 hours, then 15 minutes with the cheese.

Curried Tomato Soup - with Canning directions

WARNING!!  THIS RECIPE IS NOT USDA APPROVED!  I HAVE BEEN WARNED THAT MY FOOD COULD CAUSE DEATH!  CAN AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

There.  That's done.

Ok - so I love Heidi Swanson's recipe for Indian Spiced Tomato Soup.  It's a bit blah on it's own, but top it with the stir-ins below and it is fantastic!!!!  Seriously, you have to have the coconut milk at least, but I try to have them all on hand to serve.  But, there are a few changes that need to be made to be able to can safely. I changed the amount of onions, no water, and also no butter - hard to can.  But the spices are the same, so it still tastes about right.

Here is my altered version:

4 qts. tomatoes (skinned, seeded (if desired), crushed - I don't bother with skinning or seeding)
4C chopped onion
1.5T curry powder
1.5 teaspoon coriander
1.5 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Sweat the onions with 1C water (do not use oil or butter) until tender.  Add tomatoes and spices and  simmer 20 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Liquify in a food processor, blender or with an immersion blender, if desired. (I crushed my tomatoes and onions in the food processor, so I didn't need to blend mine again)

Pour into hot jars, leave 1" headspace.  Process in a pressure canner: Pints - 20 minutes at 10lbs, Quarts 25min @ 10lbs..

To Serve:
Heat soup to a simmer serve over cooked brown rice, barley, etc.  Have these on hand to serve on top:

• hard boiled eggs, chopped
• cilantro, chopped
• toasted slivered/sliced almonds
• coconut cream (open a can of full-fat coconut milk without shaking it - scoop the thick cream from the top of the can)
• lemon or lime wedges

Spaghetti Sauce with Meat

Adapted from the Blue Ball Book to use less meat and more tomatoes.  This is a double batch, about 9-10 quarts, depending on how much you simmer it down.


5lbs ground meat
4C chopped onions
2C chopped green peppers
25C chopped/crushed tomatoes
24oz tomato paste
1/4C brown sugar
1/4C dried parsley
3 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4C apple cider vinegar

1. Brown ground beef in a 3 gal. pot.  Drain.  add onions and peppers and sautee until tender.
2. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until desired thickness (about an hour and mine was thick enough to stand up my wooden spoon)
3. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1" head space.
4. Process in a pressure canner at 10lbs - Pints, 1 hour.  Quarts, 1 hour fifteen minutes

Kara's Blue Ball Salsa

This recipe is basically the one from the Blue Ball Canning Book - but I got it from Kara, and she and I have both made notes and changes, so here it is!


10C crushed tomatoes (peeled and seeded if you like - I don't do it)
5C chopped tomatoes
5C onions, chopped
2.5C jalapenos, seeded and chopped
6 cloves garlic
1/2C cilantro, chopped
3 teaspoons salt
1.25C apple cider vinegar

1. Combine ingredients, simmer 10 minutes.
2. Process in boiling water bath - Pints or quarts, 15 minutes.

Last year I only used 1C jalapenos, and the salsa was quite mild, but had great flavor.  I drained the juices off the vegetables to make it thicker. 

Last year I skinned & seeded the tomatoes, then drained my veggies ot make my salsa thicker.  It wasn't all that thick adn I got 3.5 quarts.

This year I did not skin or seed my tomatoes, and I did not drain the veggies.  I got 5.5 quarts.  You decide.

Garden's Bounty - Summer Bean Salad

So, I've been trying to come up with ways to eat dry beans in summer.  Everyone knows that beans and rice are a super great meal (unless you're carb restricted).  They are:

• low fat
• low GI
• extremely filling
• a complete protein without meat
• very inexpensive
• easy to prepare

But in the summer, it's just not fun to sit down to a steaming bowl of soup beans.  It's way different than, for instance, hot grilled chicken, or hot spaghetti - something about eating all that hot liquid just makes you sweat.  That's why we eat beans in the winter time!

So, I've had "black bean and corn salad" and this is really just a thrown together version of that.  I used a bag of 15 bean soup (without the packet of gross seasoning) and lots of produce from my garden.  I really enjoyed the different flavors and textures of all those beans.  And I had way more ideas for ingredients that I would love to add if I had them!  I'll list them at the bottom of the recipe. 

Enjoy a filling, low fat, fresh and cool bean salad for dinner, as a side dish, leftovers for lunch - anytime!

Summer Bean Salad

1lb bag of beans (I used 15 bean mix, but black beans are a natural here)

1 ripe tomato, chopped (or 2 if you're a big fan)

1 cucumber, quartered and chopped

2 cobs corn, cut off the cob (or about 1C frozen, thawed)

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 large can black olives, chopped or sliced

salt & pepper to taste

about 1/2C balsamic vinegrette

1. Cook your beans - rince and sort out any bad beans, then cover with about 2 inches water.  Add some salt - stirring it in later will help, but it's not quite the same.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer until beans are done.  It will be a shorter time than for bean soup, and you want the beans to hold their shape, not go mushy.  Mine needed about 1.5 hours or so.  Set a timer to start checking them early.   
2. Drain in a colander, spread the beans up the sides and set the colander on a plate and put it in the fridge until cold.  Mine got about 2 hours and were cold enough.
3. Chop all your veggies
4. Pour the beans, veggies, seasonings and dressing in a large bowl and toss gently - try not to crush the beans.
5. If your beans were nice and cold, you can eat it now.  Or, refrigerate for an hour up to a few days! 
6. Serve with bread and butter or crackers to complete the protein (other foods will also work!!)

I would have loved to add any of the following to my salad:

• diced ham
• shredded chicken
• feta, goat cheese, Parmesan
• chopped avocado
• onion of some type (maybe green onions or chives?)
• leftover cold rice (complete that protein! Add extra dressing to soak in)