Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig....

Well, I'm home from my week at the beach....It was fun and I had a great time with my two sisters, brother, and three other young family members. It began with me finishing off paying bills, turning in the tomato order and a flurry of other little odds and ends. I spent some really quility time with my family and what more can you ask? I sat under the beach umbrella reading and watching everyone else. My sisters and brother fished and swam till they could move no more. I walked on the beach, watch the pelican and sea gulls hunt for fish and walked barefoot in the sand. And yes, Jamie Dawn, I watched the "moon shine" over the water. It was a full moon and it couldn't have been more beautiful. We went crab hunting one night when it got dark and found one big crab and two small ones. Before we could head back to our camper, the large crab decided to "canablize" one of the smaller crabs. We decided to throw back all of the crabs and just head back. One of my favorite things to do was watch the pelicans flying over the water. They would start out sitting on the water, then they would fly, and then they would make a "dive bomb" for a fish down below. They looked like comokazi pilots making a bee line for their target.

To make a long story short, I did get some sun, coming home with a mild sun burn. We shopped on the Strand, we went out for pizza at a fabulous little pizza place, we walked our leggs off, we went to WalMart every day for ice and food, we played Chinese checks with a new champ every night, we barboqued, we ate water melon, we took down the owning on the trailer in record time when a storm came in on us quickly. We were lucky that we were around to do the job, some of the other campers were not so lucky and they had their ownings ripped off in a flash. All, I can say is, I had a great time. I can’t wait till next year…..

Now some wonderful recipes:

Stuffed Green Peppers

1 package (10 oz) frozen corn kernels
1 can (15 oz) red kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups shredded reduced fat Cheddar cheese, divided 6 green peppers. tops removed & seeded

Combine all ingredients, except 1/4 cup cheese and green peppers. Stuff peppers. Arrange peppers in crockpot. Cover, cook on low 6-8 hours (high 3-4 hours). Sprinkle
with 1/4 cup cheese during the last 30 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, one turn of the pan
24 large gourmet stuffing mushroom caps, stems removed and reserved brushed with damp towel
Salt and pepper
Stuffing:
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, half a turn of the pan
3/4 pound sweet bulk Italian sausage
4 cloves garlic, chopped
20 stems mushrooms, finely chopped
1 rib of celery and green, leafy top from the heart of the stalk, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 (10-ounce) box chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3 slices white bread, toasted and buttered, chopped into small dice
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano, 2 handfuls
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and mushroom caps and season caps with salt and pepper. Saute caps 5 to 7 minutes, until they are lightly browned and tender on edges. Turn caps up and let juices drain away from caps. Transfer caps to a small nonstick baking sheet. Wipe out skillet and return to heat. Add a touch of oil and sausage to the hot skillet. Brown and crumble sausage for 3 minutes. In a food processor pulse and chop the garlic, add mushroom stems and pulse to chop the mushroom stems. Add celery, onion and red bell pepper to the mushrooms and pulse to chop. Remove mixture from the processor and saute veggies and mushrooms over medium high heat another 3 to 5 minutes. Add dry, defrosted spinach and stir into stuffing. Add chopped bread and cheese to the pan and toss stuffing until bread is moist and stuffing is combined, 2 or 3 minutes. Fill caps with stuffing using a small scoop or large spoon. Place caps in hot oven and reduce heat to 450 degrees F. Bake 6 to 8 minutes to crisp edges of stuffing and set stuffing in mushrooms. Transfer stuffed mushrooms to a serving plate.



Herb and Garlic Grilled Vegetable Platter
Recipe By : Real Food for Real People - Serving Size : 6
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 Zucchini -- or yellow squash, sliced
1 small Sweet Onion -- cut into wedges
12 medium Mushroom Caps -- cut into wedges
1 medium Eggplant -- thick sliced
2 medium Bell Peppers -- asst. colors, sliced in chunks
1 cup Lawry's Herb and Garlic Marinade with Lemon Juice


In large zip baggie, combine all ingredients and marinate in refrigerator for 30
minutes or overnight. Either thread onto skewers or place vegetables in grill
basket to grill over barbecue until tender.

Variations:
May cook in skillet until browned and tender.
May broil or oven roast at 450ºF until tender.

Picnic Idea: A great recipe to take along as a picnic side dish, to top a main
dish salad or to wrap up in a tortilla as a vegetarian sandwich.

Wrap Party Tip: Wrap fillings can be made up ahead and refrigerated. When ready to serve, allow vegetables to come to room temperature, place on buffet with tortillas and let guests serve themselves.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 91 Calories; 1g Fat (5.7% calories from
fat); 4g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1075mg
Sodium. Exchanges: 2 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.


Have a great week everyone! The tomato order is being delivered on Thursday. I will take a few pictures of that event, so be ready folks......

13 Comments:

At 1:22 AM, Blogger Diane@Diane's Place said...

Sounds like y'all had a good time, Lucy. I'm jealous, but glad you got to go. ;o)

Thanks for the recipes. The grilled veggies sound really good.

Enjoy the rest of your week! :o)

Love and hugs,

Diane

 
At 5:55 AM, Blogger Big Dave T said...

That's a lot of nature. I love it by the ocean. If I could, I'd live by the ocean.

I'm guessing that this is one of those traditional family trips. We do our own in about three weeks . . . a weekend camping trip by the dunes of Lake Michigan with my in-laws. That's been going on for about a dozen years now.

 
At 7:23 AM, Blogger Granny Annie said...

Welcome home:-)

 
At 9:48 AM, Blogger Jan said...

Welcome Home and thank you so very much for your wonderful recipes. They look incredible.

 
At 10:58 AM, Blogger OldLady Of The Hills said...

Glad you had such a GREAT Time, Lucy...How wonderful to spend this kind of quality time with your siblings...!

GREAT Recipes! Thanks , my dear!

 
At 11:50 AM, Blogger Jim said...

Hey Lucy, it sounds like you had a really good time with the kin and being on our nice beach!
Thanks for the heads up on being home.

I have a really good and quick Stuffed Green Peppers Recipe. And you can make it for two REAL CHEAP!

JIM'S QUICK AND EASY STUFFED GREEN PEPERS

One pretty large green pepper (the 50¢ size)
One half package of nice Cajun style boudain
Toppings to suit


Cut green pepper in half and boil till fairly soft.
Place one fourth package boudain in each pepper shell.
Continue as is or place catsup, bread crumbs, and/or a grated cheese on top to suit.
Heat in oven at 375°F until toppings are brown (or boudain browns slightly if no topping)
Or heat in microwave at high for one to two minutes till things 'sizzle.'
Serves two
153 calories

This makes a quick meal with a salad and another vegatable to go with. Mrs. Jim and I have these a lot. The boudain is a little spicy so nothing else is added at our house.
..

 
At 11:58 AM, Blogger Jess said...

Glad you had such a great time... Always wanted to go to the beach!
Great recipes...I will have to try them!

 
At 1:00 PM, Blogger LZ Blogger said...

Lucy ~ Sounds like a great vacation... by the way, if I had a brother and sister-in-law who lived in Kauai, I know where I would be hanging out EVERY vacation!
P.S. Moon shine on the water? Must have been in the SOUTH?! ~ jb///

 
At 4:46 PM, Blogger Jenn said...

Lucy this is so cool! I love it! I'll have to add it to my favorite's list.

 
At 6:05 PM, Blogger Putz said...

how come instead of all this cooking stuff you didn;t have a pirate day like lois common denominator, you two ar my idols for taking common every day things and making them world shatterering events that shape the lives of humanity

 
At 9:49 PM, Blogger Fred said...

I'm glad you had a good time. We haven't had the opportunity to vacation much with family members all together in one place outside of weddings and funerals. Someday, I hope.

Can you believe I don't like mushrooms?

 
At 10:10 PM, Blogger Jamie Dawn said...

Welcome home!
I'm so glad you enjoyed such a nice time with your family.
Hooray for moonshine!!!
:-)
Pelicans are such odd looking birds. They are so intriguing.
Maybe you'll share some tips on avoiding sunburn or treating sunburn in our next post.
Ha Ha Tee Hee!!

 
At 9:58 AM, Blogger Merle said...

Dear Lucy ~~ I am so glad that you had a great week with your family on your annual holiday together, with the beach an added extra. The recipes sound good, will have to try them.
Thank you so much for your kind comments about Jane. I am sorry your Grandma lost her battle with breast cancer, and I do hope you haven't inherited that gene. My two daughters are adopted, which is great as they won't get b cancer from me. Take care my friend,
Love, Merle.

 

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