COOKING WITH KIMBERLY & PAOLA: STUFFED PEPPERS OUR WAY!



WELCOME, welcome friends!

Paola and I are so excited to show you how to make one of her families recipes.

Every other week we will be cooking different recipes that we love. 

This week is Paola's turn and our very first cooking post, yikes!!! 

  Her recipes tend to be a little complicated since her family cooks everything from scratch. Wow! lucky husband of hers! She used to cook this way and spent a couple of hours cooking dinner every night. Not any more, she is now a MOMMY and there is no time for cooking from scratch! Only on special occasions, of course.  She has learned to simplify and become more creative with recipes.



Please keep in mind that she has tweaked this recipe a little..... ok maybe a lot, making them healthier and easier to cook. Needless to say, her husband is American and even though he loves her cooking, she had to accommodate her recipes to his palate. I would say I have it a little easier because Josh and I cook together! I know I know...awww how cute!

Ok enough words and more action!! Are you ready?

We are going to show you how to make this recipe step by step to simplify the process.

Drums rolling..................................Lets get started!

STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

This recipe is delicious and very light. You can make at home with ingredients that you probably already have in your refrigerator. It's also very affordable too! Please don't ask us to count the calories, we never do, but we guarantee you that is healthy and very filling. WARNING........ the first time we made these peppers, I completely stuffed my face because they were THAT good!

Serving for 6 people ( 2 stuffed peppers per person)

INGREDIENTS

• 15 Idaho potatoes ( Washed with soap and hot water to get rid of the dirt, do not remove or peel the skin off)
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup of butter
• Tsp black pepper
• Salt
• 1 Whole Rotisserie Chicken
• 12 Green peppers 
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 1/2 tbsp of Garlic 
• Raisins to taste
• 2 tbsp of EVOO
• 1 can of enchilada sauce
• Mexican shredded cheese

PREPARATION

STEP 1: POTATOES 

In a large pot, boil the potatoes in water with salt. You can tell when the potatoes are ready when they get soft and tender. ( Hint: While they are boiling try cutting through one with a knife, if the knife cuts the potatoes with no effort, like butter, then your potatoes are ready).We boiled ours on high heat for about 20 minutes.

You are probably wondering, why do you leave the skin on the potatoes? Because of their nutritional value. Leaving the skin intact will prevent from all the nutrients to remain, which have a tendency to escape during cooking. Here are some of the daily value (DV) percentages that a medium-sized potato may contain, based on a daily caloric intake of 2,000 calories.

The nutritional information for total fat, cholesterol, and sodium are not included as their values are all 0!

Vitamin C: 45% of DV
Potassium: 18% of DV
Vitamin B6: 10% of DV
Total Carbohydrates: 9% of DV
Iron: 6% of DV
Foliate: 6% of DV
Magnesium: 6% of DV
Zinc: 2% of DVProtein: 2% of DV

Are you surprised? 

 

Once the potatoes are completely cooked, drain the water and put them in a separate bowl to mash up ( yes we are making mashed potatoes). Mash the potatoes, the milk, the butter and salt. Keep mashing until the potatoes become creamy. Set aside to use later.

 

Don't forget, taste your food to make sure it is not too salty or just to make sure it taste scrumptious!

Wow Paola...that's a huge bite!!

We thought that it would be nice to take a picture of the ingredients we used, just in case you don't know what brand to buy. This will make your shopping so much easier.
YOU ARE WELCOME, I know..... we are very kind!

STEP 2: ROTISSERIE CHICKEN

Remove the skin from your chicken, shred.  Set aside to use later. 

We like Costco's roasted chicken, they are big, fresh and have NO ADDED HORMONES OR STEROIDS

You can use your hands or this tool. Paola bought it at Pampered Chef and she absolutely loves it.
You can shred everything from veggies to meat with it! Highly recommended! 

STEP 3: GREEN BELL PEPPERS PREPARATION 

Try choosing big peppers that can stand up straight to fill. Like this one. Make sure that they look healthy, no mold on the skin, no cuts and no soft areas.

Cut the top of the pepper and remove the core the middle area where all the seeds are located.

Wash with the inside and remove all remaining seeds.
The peppers should look clean in the inside so you can stuff them. 

This is how clean they should look

Carefully boil the peppers in water with salt for about 5 minutes.

This process is very important as the skin of a green pepper is hard and the taste is tart. When you boil them in water with salt in will not only soften the skin a little but it will get rid of that tart taste, trust me, it makes a huge difference.

Important note: DO NOT OVER BOIL YOUR PEPPERS! If they get too soggy they will disintegrate and you cant stuff them.  We just need to soften them up a little to the touch.
You can always reduce the time you boil them.



After they boil, place them in a colander to remove them from the water and immediately place them on a non greased cooking pan, and let them cool down.

Important note: Be careful when you drain the water, the vapor may burn you. Also please do not let them sit on top of each other, the vapor will make them break and soften.

This is how your peppers should look like after cooling and boiling. 

While the peppers are cooling, you can now prepare all of the other ingredients for the stuffing. 

STEP 4: STUFFING

These are the ingredients that we used for the stuffing. Buying minced garlic will save you a lot of time and will keep your hands from smelling like garlic all day! 

Cut up the onion and red pepper in small pieces

Sauté the onion in olive oil until brown.
 Once they are brown, add the red peppers, 1/8 tsp of salt, garlic and sauté all together for 2 minutes. 

Now add raisins to your taste and cook for 1 more minute. Set aside to use later.

We added raisins to this recipe.  The combination of salt, a little spicy and the sweet make it irresistible. Its a combination of flavors that will make you want MORE! 

  

Step 5: MIX ALL THE INGREDIENTS!!! 

In a large boil, or in a pot mix together the potatoes, chicken, sautéd veggies and raisins. 

TIME TO STUFF YOUR PEPPERS< YAY! 

Start by stuffing them with shreded cheese

Add the stuffing and fill all the way to the top

Add some more cheese, lots of cheese, and pour some some enchilada sauce on top to taste.

Note: Enchilada sauces come hot, medium or mild.

Use the mild, which is not spicy at all, just in case one of your guests doesn't like spicy food.  

Ready to bake!!!! Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and bake for 20 minutes uncovered.

YUMMY!!! Look at these scrumptious stuffed peppers!
The chef looks very happy and her kitchen smells like heaven!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 

Decorate your plate. Her mother always taught her that decorating your plates makes a huge difference on how it tastes. If it looks appealing to your eyes, it will taste great in your tummy!

She likes to serve her peppers with a delicious smoothie that consists of passion fruit, papaya, mango and strawberry. She also made a yummy garden salad with my homemade balsamic lime vinaigrette!

We are all done and the food is warm and ready for our Hubbies!

Here's another one of her moms silly sayings, but they are all true!

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, in other words, if you want a man to love you, feed him well! 


Happy cooking everyone and see you next time. And don't forget to let us know how your dish turned out. We are so excited to hear from you.

CHEERS and many HUGS and KISSES