Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers

After making the Tex Mex Egg Rolls we still had a lot of the filling left that I wasn't sure what to do with, other than freeze it.  I think it was Randal who came up with the idea to make stuffed peppers with it, he really loves stuffed peppers and his favourite filling is dirty rice, so this isn't too far from that. 

2 cups tex mex egg roll filling
1/2 cup corn
1 can rotel
1 can tomato sauce
Colby jack cheese
2 red bell peppers

Preheat oven to 350

Mix together the egg roll filling, corn and rotel.

Cut bell peppers in half and remove seeds, season with salt and pepper and fill each pepper with half a cup of the rice mixture. Pour the tomato sauce over the top of the peppers and bake for 45 minutes, until peppers are tender.  Top with cheese and bake for another 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.
  

Menu Plan Monday

Monday:  Hamburgers, corn on the cob and watermelon

Tuesday:  Roast chicken with lemon pepper fettucini

Wednesday:  Homemade pizza (didn't make it last week)

Thursday:  Cod, garlic butter orzo and green beans

Friday:  Eating out


See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Carrot-Pineapple Cupcakes

I made these a couple of weeks ago when I was testing out carrot cake recipes.  These come from The Butch Bakery Cookbook.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups peeled and grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup drained crushed pineapple

Cream cheese frosting:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
9 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
Seeds from 1 plumped vanilla bean (vanilla beans plumped in rum for at least 2 weeks)

Preheat oven to 350

In a mudium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, set aside.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs, applesauce and vanilla.  Stir in the flour mixture, add the walnuts, raisins, carrots and pineapple and mix just until combined.  Fill lined cupcake pans 2/3 full and bake for 22 minutes.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add half of the icing sugar, the heavy cream and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add the rest of the icing sugar and continue to beat until thick and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.

 

Watermelon Salsa

I made this salsa to go along with the tex mex egg rolls. Randal and I both love fruit salsas but we usually make them with pineapple or mango, so a watermelon salsa was new to us and we both really liked it.

3 cups watermelon, diced
1/2 an english cucumber, diced
2 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl whisk together the lime juice, zest, sugar and pepper.  Add in the watermelon, cucumber, jalapenos and basil, stir together and refrigerate.  Add the salt just before serving.



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Tex Mex Egg Rolls

I have never made egg rolls before, I've always been worried that I wouldn't roll them correctly and they would just come apart in the pan and end up a huge mess, but luckily I was wrong. These egg rolls were easy to make and stayed together perfectly, and as Randal loves all things tex mex I thought this would be the perfect recipe to attempt.   We both loved these, and Randal even said it was his favourite part of dinner and when that dinner includes one of his favourite things (sweet corn tamale cakes) you know these have to be good!

1 box yellow rice (I used Zatarains yellow rice)
1 lb hot pork sausage
1 can black beans
1 can rotel
2 cups shredded monterey jack
1 packet taco seasoning
Egg roll wrappers
1 large egg, beaten

Cook the yellow rice according to the directions on the box and leave to cool completely.

Cook the sausage until no longer pink, drain and leave to cool completely.

Stir together the rice, sausage, black beans, rotel, cheese and taco seasoning.

Place a third cup of mixture onto the center of each egg roll wrapper.  Fold top corner of wrapper over the filling, tucking the tip of the wrapper under the filling. Fold left and right corners over filling. Lightly brush the remaining corner with egg, tightly roll the filled end toward the remaining corner and press to seal.

Fry the egg rolls at 375 for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown.





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Red Velvet Cake

Last week I was making carrot cakes and this week I was asked to make a red velvet cake for a colleague of Randal's.  I tried out a few different recipes but this was the one I settled on for Rick.  It's a very moist cake from Saveur and definitely the best of the ones we tried.

2 1/2 cups plus
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp  cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp  white distilled vinegar

Frosting:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
12 oz. butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups icing sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350. Grease three 8" round cake pans.

Sift remaining flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a bowl. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake for 25 minutes.

To make the frosting beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer until well combined.  Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5–7 minutes.

Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate and spread frosting on top.  Set another layer on top and repeat frosting.  Set remaining layer on top and frost top and sides with the remaining frosting.  

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Honey Rosemary Pork Chops

I found this pork chop recipe on pinterest, it's originally from Plain Chicken. We had some fresh rosemary from Sue to use up and I thought these pork chops would be a great way to do just that. Randal and I both loved the honey rosemary combination and we both said that we would definitely be making these again.

Boneless pork chops
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Mix the honey, rosemary and olive oil together in a small bowl. 

Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, brush half of the honey mixture over the pork chops.  Grill the pork chops for 6-8 minutes per side.  Remove the cooked pork chops from the grill and brush with the remaining glaze, leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.



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