Pasta-Stuffed Bell Peppers

We've all had stuffed peppers before. For my wedding the vegetarian entree choice was stuffed green peppers. This is a different version and it is so good! Tonight I prepared a meal that I've made once before. I found this recipe while flipping through one of my Mother-in-Law's cookbooks while I was sick in bed one day. This is a vegetarian meal that the whole family can eat. I've adapted this recipe since the original version calls for bacon and olives - two unnecessary ingredients. I'll include them as an option and you can decide to use them or not. It also calls for mozzarella. I used regular mozzarella the first time I made this, but this time I decided to kick it up a notch and substitute smoked mozzarella. It was a great call; Just the boost it needed. The recipe serves 4, but here's my recommendation...one stuffed pepper per person if serving with a salad or other side, one and a half to two per person if you aren't serving a side dish. Use any color pepper you want. They all taste great. If you have larger peppers, use a little extra macaroni and/or mozzarella when preparing the ingredients. If you have a little extra of the mixture left over, just stuff a bit more into the peppers.

My husband and I gave this recipe a big thumbs up! Tasty, flavorful, colorful, filling. It doesn't get any better. This would be a great way to use fresh, local produce and easy enough to feed a crowd. I served mine standing up as shown in the photo, but you could cut the peppers in half length-wide and stuff them for a different appearance and to make them easier to serve a larger crowd. My preschooler thought it was edible if eaten with a blueberry for each bite. Eh, whatever it takes, right?

Ingredients

6 slices of bacon, chopped (optional)
1 small onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups organic crushed canned tomatoes
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup uncooked macaroni noodles
1 cup smoked mozzarella, small diced
12 olives, pitted & thinly sliced (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
EVOO

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350F. Lightly spray an 8" oval or square baking dish.
2. Cook bacon and drain, keeping bacon fat. Add onions to the bacon fat and saute for 5 minutes. Pour off any excess fat.
-If making the vegetarian version, just saute onions in EVOO for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in tomatoes and pepper flakes. Cook over medium-high to high heat until thickened, about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta. Put pasta in mixing bowl, (add bacon), tomato sauce, mozzarella (and olives). Toss to mix. Season with S&P to taste.
5. Cut stem off each pepper and reserve "lids". Remove seeds and ribs.
6. Divide pasta mix evenly among peppers. Put "lids" on. Brush peppers all over with EVOO and set in baking dish.
7. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until peppers are tender, 25-35 minutes longer.

Smoked Mozzarella and Apple Mini-Calzones

On Saturday night I had friend and her family coming over for dinner. I hadn't spent much time with this friend recently and so having her family of four coming over gave me the inspiration to try all of these amazing recipes I keep finding on Pinterest. I actually had 5 new recipes to try on her family as guinea pigs! Watch out and cross your fingers!

I started out the evening with a Smoked Mozzarella and Apple Calzone. I found smoked mozzarella at Whole Foods. I really wanted to use whole wheat pizza crust, but I didn't have time to make my own and the grocery store only had regular pizza crust. I had quite a bit of the various filling ingredients left over, but I don't think I could've managed to stuff any more things inside.

My guests gave it the thumbs up. I loved them with the dijon mustard for dipping, my husband didn't. This was labor-intensive so next time I might try and use crescent rolls, although that might be sacrificing too much flavor to save some time. I'll let you know...

Makes 12.

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat pizza crust

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tbs butter
1 medium apple (honeycrisp, fuji)
1 cup diced smoked mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
handful of fresh thyme
handful of fresh chives

extra virgin olive oil for brushing
dijon mustard to serve

Instructions:

1. Make the pizza dough or use store-bought fresh dough, let it come to room temperature
2. Warm butter over medium heat in a saucepan and add the thinly sliced onion. Continue to move them every so often until they begin to caramelize, about 12-20 minutes.
3. Seed and cut the apple into a rough dice. Pull the thyme leaves and give them and the chives a nice chop. Get all of your fillings in order.
4. Roll out dough into a rectangle shape. Roll it thin, but not too thin since you don't want it to rip. Make 3x3 inch squares and lay them on a floured baking sheet.
5. Pile toppings into the middle of the square. Take a pinch of onions, then apple, both cheeses then herbs. Add a twist of black pepper if desired. Fold one corner across to the opposite corner, gently press and fold the open edges and pinch or roll the edges.
6. Brush the top of each mini calzone with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake in the upper third of the over for about 14 minutes, until tops are crispy brown. Let them rest a minute before eating. Serve with dijon mustard for dipping.

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