Pasta-Filled Peppers

I saw this recipe in my Taste of Home Guilt-free Cooking book and thought it looked fancy. The directions looked simple enough, so I thought I'd try it. The lesson I learned from this recipe: Things are not always as simple as they seem!

On the first step, I encountered a technique of cooking that I have not done yet. Broiling. I didn't even know what a broiler was except that there is a broil setting on my oven temp dial. So I had to do a bit of research before I could even begin. 

Tip about broiling: In my oven (and most typical ovens) the broiler is on the top of the oven. So to broil a vegetable, you should put a rack as close to the top as possible. One thing I learned immediately is that whole peppers can be big, and despite the ability to put them on the top racks close to the broiler as possible, it may not be the best idea if the peppers touch the broiler because they instantly burn. Each time I took them out to turn them, they hit the broiler element. I also had to make sure they were spaced on the cookie sheet so that they strattled the elements while in the oven.

The directions state next to place them in a covered bowl for 10 minutes. When researching ways to roast whole peppers, I found an explanation here of why it is important to cover and let them set. However, they were not cool enough to handle in 10 minutes, so I placed the bowl in the refrigerator and took out 1 at a time to take off the skin. As you can see, it was not easy. The skin did not easily come off, so I resorted to a knife and my fingers to peel only the burnt parts off. 

The insides were easier to cut out than I thought, but I think to another time, I might just lob off the whole top to make a bigger opening. 

The pasta filling could be a whole delicious meal just by itself. It's easy, cheesy, and fantastic! 

The peppers were a bit droopy, so I elected to have my helpful husband scoop the pasta into the peppers while I held them up in a casserole dish. Some help might be in order for this step. 

Overall, I was really happy with the results, and we thought they were delicious! They even tasted great as leftovers up to 2 days later! 

I was so proud of how a few of them looked, I wanted to show a comparison of the cookbook picture and my final plating. All that to say, you can make a fancy-looking dish in a small apartment kitchen! Have fun!

The picture from the book

My final product!

Pasta-Filled Peppers

6 medium green, sweet red and/or yellow peppers

6 ounces uncooked spaghetti

3/4 cup diced onion 

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp  canola oil

1 3/4 cup diced fresh tomatoes

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup vegetable broth

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup minced fresh basil

3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place whole peppers on a broiler pan; broil 6 in. from the heat for 10-15 minutes or until skins are blistered and blackened, turning often. Immediately place peppers in a bowl; cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Peel off and discard charred skins. Carefully cut tops off peppers and discard; remove seeds. Set peppers aside.

2. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, salute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add tomatoes; cook for 1 minute. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt and broth until smooth. Gradually stir into tomato mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until slightly thickened.

3. Drain spaghetti; add to the tomato mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, basil and Parmesan; toss. Spoon into peppers. Place in a 3-qt. microwave-safe baking dish. Cover and microwave on high for 1-3 minutes or until heated through.

Chicken-Pasta Skillet

Although I love food, I have a confession. I am not the biggest fan of anything tomato. When I was younger, I didn't like tomatoes, ketchup, marinara sauce, or anything tomato-based. I ate pasta with butter and cheese, and lived on it. As I got older, I started to like it more and more, but still am not a fan of tomato soup or pasta drowned in sauce. So I was a bit hesitant to try this recipe, but the picture did not look too saucy, and it looked like I could actually control how much sauce goes into the meal. So I took a chance.
Let's just say I'm glad I have some intuition in the kitchen! This was a very easy recipe, but it could very easily have gone wrong.

I decided to double the recipe so we would have lots of leftovers. I cooked the chicken, which always takes longer than the recipe says (it took about 10 minutes). I then added green pepper and onion, chopped, just because it would cook faster, and I am not always a fan of strips of floppy onion and peppers unless it's in a fajita. 

 The recipe calls for 2 cups of uncooked pasta (doubled 4 cups), and a whole box of rotini is approximately 6 cups. As with most pasta meals, I added the whole box of pasta, because you can never have too much!

I was skeptical to add the pasta into the meal uncooked, because it takes a lot of liquid to cook pasta, and the recipe had very little liquid in it. But I wanted to go by the books. 

Before adding the additional cup of pasta

I checked the pasta about every 5 minutes while cooking, because I was afraid the liquid would cook away, and I'm glad I did. After about 10 minutes, it started sticking to the bottom of the pan. I then added an additional 1 cup of water, hiked up the temp for a minute to get it boiling again, and then turned it back down to simmer. Even with the extra water, when it was finished, there were some pieces of pasta that were a bit brown from sticking. 

I will say, if I did not lift the lid to check it so often, more liquid might have stayed in, maybe not causing it to stick so fast. But I didn't want to take that chance and ruin the whole pot. It also might have taken a bit more liquid because I added more pasta, but I don't think it should have made that much of a difference. 

Tip for pasta: You could also cook the pasta separately, and then add it to the pan. You would not need to add the water at all, although I would suggest taking a bit of the water from the pasta and put it in the mixture. To quote my favorite talk show host, Rachael Ray, "It’s the magic liquid that marries the sauce to the pasta itself." Once you add the pasta, mix it in, and then add the sauce.

For the sauce, due to my not-so-fondness of it, I did not double it to include 2 jars of marinara sauce, and I am glad I didn't. For some, maybe you would want to, but as you can see, there was plenty of sauce to go around. 

The end result was a delicious chicken, pasta and cheese delight. And the moral of this meal: go with your gut, and don't be afraid to check to make sure it's not burning. 

Chicken-Pasta Skillet
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 small onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
1 jar (24 oz.) traditional pasta sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook and stir chicken in large skilled sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 5 minutes. Add vegetables; cook and stir 5 minutes. Stir in water; bring to a boil.
2. Add pasta; stir until completely covered with water. Cover with lid; simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in sauce.
3. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook covered on low heat for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted or pasta mixture is heated through, stirring occasionally.  

Sausage Tortellini Soup

This was another recipe I made while at my mother's house. I didn't realize it until this meal was complete, but this is a one-dish meal that is easy, delicious, and different! My husband loves sausage, and we have access to some great sausage in the area with a variety of flavors. 
The recipe says to use bulk sausage, which I found out for the first time meant ground meat. 
Embarrassing confession: I just started cooking with sausage this year for my husband (I wasn't a huge fan until now), and had to ask him the first time I cooked it whether or not I was supposed to take the casing off. Every time I've cooked sausage so far, I have only needed to cut it and fry it up, so I have not taken the casing off. Whenever I saw 'bulk sausage' in a recipe, I thought it was suggesting you buy it in bulk (high quantity) and use some of that. Apparently not! So if you only have links, you can just take it out of the casing to make it ground. 

I do suggest cooking this meal in the largest saucepan you have (not a stockpot). My mom's large saucepan is not teflon-lined, so I started with some oil. But even this did not prevent the bottom from getting a little brown. If you want to try to avoid this altogether, you could try cooking the sausage in a separate teflon-lined skillet and then transfer it to a pot.

She had some delicious Italian sausage that I used. Some people like to break their sausage up very fine, but I left them in bigger chunks, so that we could get some good bite-sizes of the good stuff. After the sausage is cooked, I added stewed tomatoes (cut up), beef broth, french onion soup and cabbage. This is a good meal if you have some left-over cabbage. The cabbage cooks down, so if it's a bit older, this is a good recipe to use it up. 

The recipe calls for 9 ounces of refrigerated tortellini. However, I had a 19 ounce frozen bag, and planned to use it all because my husband and I are huge tortellini fans, so you can never have too much. The instructions on the bag of the tortellini stated it should cook in 3 1/2 minutes, but I found it had to cook at least 5 minutes longer once the soup started simmering again. 

I tried the soup before I put on the parmesan cheese, and then added some on top. Honestly, I thought it was better without the cheese, and my mom agreed. Although I didn't try it, I think it would be better with some shredded mozzarella cheese mixed in rather than parmesan. It does give you that italian flavor, if that's what you love.

I think this is a recipe that you could experiment with different flavors of sausage and even add some other veggies such as carrots and peppers to add more color. If you have plain stewed tomatoes, I think it would probably work to add some italian seasoning with the tomatoes to cook in that extra flavor as well. 

Sausage Tortellini Soup
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
2 cups water
2 cups chopped cabbage
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian stewed tomatoes, undrained and cut up
1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth
1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed French onion soup
1 package (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a large saucepan, cook sausage over medium heat until it is no longer pink; drain. 
2. Stir in the water, cabbage, tomatoes, broth, and soup. Bring to a boil. 
3. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 8 minutes. Stir in tortellini; cook 7-9 minutes longer or until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with cheese. 

Yield: 10 servings (2 1/2 quarts)