Stuffed Bell Peppers and Tomatoes

Ingredients:
2 bell peppers
2 large tomatoes
1 avocado
1/4 feta cheese
1/4 c sliced black olives
1 T tsp ground cumin
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup rice
15 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 cup black beans
1 cup red kidney beans
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions for Peppers:
Cook the rice as directed on the package. Add the diced tomatoes and green chilies, beans, ground cumin and salt and pepper (to taste). Cut out the stem of the top of the green pepper and place the pepper in a pot with boiling salt water for 5 minutes. Remove from water, then stuff it with the filling. Top with a pinch full of shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is bubbly.

Directions for Tomatoes:

Hollow out the tomatoes, removing seeds.

Mix the feta, olives, avocado, lemon juice, ground cumin and salt and pepper and stuff into tomatoes. Grill, broil or eat cold!

Parmesan Tuna Pasta

Ingredients:

8 oz pasta of your choice, cooked according to package directions
minced garlic or garlic powder to taste
2 c. fresh tomatoes
1/8 cup chopped capers
1/4 cup fresh parsely, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
15 oz black olives, drained and sliced
2 small cans water packed tuna, drained
3/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Put all ingredients in serving bowl and stir together. Add salt and pepper or seasonings to taste. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve warm. Try asparagus cooked with parmesan cheese as a side. Delish and plenty of leftovers for lunches!

Orange Chocolate Dream Cookies

One of my favorite combos is chocolate and orange. This recipe did NOT let me down!

Ingredients:

1c. butter
2/3 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 large egg
1 T. grated orange rind
juice from orange
2 1/4 c. all purpose flour (although I would recommend more if you get more than 1/8 c. juice from your orange)
3/4 t. salt
1 package chocolate chips (I combined milk and dark)

Directions:
beat butter and sugars until creamy. add egg, orange rind, juice and mix. add flour and salt gradually and mix well. stir in chocolate chips. Bake spoonfulls of dough at 350 for 12-15 minutes. The original recipe called for orange extract as well, however since I didn't have it I left it out. The orange flavor was just slight enough to be refreshing. I highly recommend these cookies!

Eggrolls

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 package (16 oz) coleslaw mix
2 T soy sauce
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t ground ginger
onion powder to taste
40 egg roll wrappers
1 T all-purpose flour
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:
combine first 6 ingredients. place heaping tablespoonful of mixture in center of one egg roll wrapper. Fold like an envelope, roll up. Use a bit of water to keep wrapper closed. Fry in oil at 375 for about 5 minutes. Enjoy with sauce of choice.

Yummm! I didn't used to like eggrolls because of the cabbage, but I think it was all in my head. Either that or my tastebuds have changed. These were delish. I put the meat in half the mixture and left it out of the other half. I would add more ginger next time. Other than that I was highly impressed! I think you can also bake the eggrolls rather than fry them. Maybe next time I'll try that. We'll see!

Taco Pizza

Ingredients:
pizza crust (see pizza crust recipe in the pizza and calzone post-makes two crusts)
2 cans refried beans
1 lb ground beef
2/3 head chopped lettuce
1 can olives
4 oz cheddar cheese
2-3 tomatoes
taco sauce
sour cream

Directions:
bake pizza per directions in previous post
top with shredded cheddar and cook a few minutes longer
spread refried beans over cheese, top with remaining ingredients and Viola! An extremely tasty and unique take on pizza. Or tacos!

Orange Ricotta Dumplings with Lavender Butter

Orange Ricotta Breakfast Dumplings

(Makes about 25 small dumplings)

Ingredients:

For the dumplings
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup all purpose flour divided in half
1 medium egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon orange zest plus more for garnish

For lavender butter
3 tablespoon sweet cream butter
2 teaspoons lavender sugar (recipe below)
¼ teaspoon dried lavender
Small piece of orange rind (optional)

For Lavender Butter

Simply add four tablespoons of dried lavender and add to two cups sugar. Blend on “pulse” speed for a few seconds and set sugar aside in a closed container (we prefer glass) for two weeks before use. You can sift out the lavendar, but I just left it in and it was delish!

Prepare the dumplings:

In a medium pot bring to a gentle boil 2 quarts of lightly salted water.

In a large bowl mix the ricotta with the egg, add ½ of flour and mix it with a spoon to form it into a ball, add orange zest and then more flour little by little as needed. The dough will be very sticky, but not wet, and the amount of flour you use will depend on how much moisture is in the ricotta cheese you use. However, one cup is about right, so don’t add too much flour as it toughens the dumpling.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and cut in half. With your palms, gently roll it into two long strands about ½ inch thick. With a knife, slice each strand on diagonal into about half inch wide dumplings. This will make approximately 44 dumplings. Transfer all the dumplings to a large pot and boil until all float to the surface, about 10 minutes.

Prepare the lavender butter:

In the mean time in a frying pan or small sauce pan, on a medium heat, melt butter with lavender sugar, dried lavender and orange rind. Cook for few minutes, being carful not to brown the mixture.

Serve:

Arrange cooked dumplings on a serving platter or divide into small bowls. Top with lavender butter, garnish with orange zest and some fresh lavender petals, serve immediately.

(this recipe is verbatim from Design Sponge. It was perfect and I didn't change anything, so want to give credit where credit is due!)

Avacado Goat Cheese Dip

Ingredients:
2 avocados
4oz goat cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
tabasco sauce to taste
salt and pepper

Directions:
combine all ingredients and mash together. Enjoy with chips or crackers!