Ding Dong Bell Peppers

 

“Ding Dong Bell,

Pussy's in the well.

Who put her in?

Little Johnny Flynn.

Who pulled her out?

Little Tommy Stout.

What a naughty boy was that,

To soak a Pussy cat,

Who never did him any harm,

But scared all the mice in the farmer's barn.”

While the original version of this rhyme is from John Lant, the organist of Winchester Cathedral, in 1580, the version we mainly know and have heard is from New Nursery Rhymes for Old by Geoffrey Hall, published in 1949.  Other versions of the rhyme have a darker nature where the poor kitty is left to perish, however, the main concept was to teach children about animal cruelty and how wrong it was.

In fact, several Mormon leaders have explicitly spoken out against animal cruelty, such as:

David O. McKay (9th President): He frequently spoke in general conferences about kindness to animals, stating, “a true Latter-day Saint is kind to animals, is kind to every created thing, for God created all.”

Joseph F. Smith (6th President): He taught that harming animals is spiritually corrupting, noting that “doing wrong to animals is but a stepping stone to the doing of wrong to our fellow men.”\

 Joseph Fielding Smith (10th President): He similarly taught that cruelty toward animals disqualifies a person from the companionship of the Holy Spirit and emphasized that animals are living souls destined for resurrection.

George Q. Cannon (First Counselor in the First Presidency): While not church president, he was historically the most vocal general leader on animal welfare, preaching heavily in the 19th century against cruelty, neglect, and hunting for sport rather than sustenance.

Even though I am non-Mormon, I travel along the same road of thought, as these men did, about animal cruelty, and do respect their outspokenness on the subject.

Originally, I wanted to start with, “Why are bell peppers called bell peppers?”, then I remembered the rhyme, and there I went on one of my tangents.  Now, back to the original concept.

Simple answer is, “Bell peppers are called that because their plump, squat, lobed shape resembles a traditional hand bell, and they belong to the pepper family.” 

The more detailed, historical, answers are:

Bell - English settlers, of North America, noticed the hollow, wide-bottomed shape looked like a hanging church or hand bell. Records show the term "bell-pepper" used as early as the late 1600s, and were ideal for pickling.

Pepper - Christopher Columbus and early European explorers mistakenly called plants in the Capsicum genus "peppers" because their spicy or pungent varieties added heat to food, reminding the black peppercorns (Piper nigrum). Even though bell peppers are mild and lack the chemical compound capsaicin that makes other peppers hot, they kept the family name.

Do the colors of bell peppers have distinct characteristics?  First off, all bell peppers start off with a deep green color, but as they mature, or are allowed extra time to ripen, they change color and flavor.

Green: Crisp, firm, with a bright, grassy, and slightly bitter taste.

Yellow: Mild, sweet, and slightly fruity or citrusy.

Red: Sweet, juicy, and much less bitter as natural sugars increase.

Purple, White or Brown (rare colors): White and purple taste crisp and grassy like green peppers; chocolate tastes sweet like red peppers.

Bell peppers contain vitamins A, B6, C, potassium, folate and antioxidants; one cup of raw is only nine grams of carbohydrates, ½ gram of fat. 3 grams of fiber, 1.5 grams of protein, and they simply just taste good.

Recipe wise, probably everyone has one for stuffed peppers handed down through the generations.

Instead of a standard recipe, I am giving you two to add to your collection; Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers (made with roasted beef), and Cajun Seasoned Turkey and Rice Stuffed Peppers (using ground turkey for those who do not, or cannot, eat beef).

Hope you enjoy making these.  Also, let’s remember to be as kind to animals, as we are to humans, considering Homo sapiens is scientifically classified as an animal species too.

 

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

2 large green bell peppers

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

½. tsp salt

1 and 1/2 cups chopped roasted beef

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

 

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375F; spray a one-quart baking dish with nonstick spray.

 

 

 

Cut tops off peppers, remove seeds, stem and white pith; set aside tops and bodies of peppers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a small skillet, medium-high heat, sauté onions until they soften (about 5 minutes); season with salt and black pepper.

On a medium bowl, mix together onions, beef and cheese.  Stuff each pepper with the mixture and put tops on.  Bake for 30 - 40 minutes; until tops just begin to brown.

 

After Baking.

Makes two servings.

Now, if you really need that bread, make some crusty dinner rolls, fill them with some of the green bell pepper and cheesesteak filling.  There you go, Philly Cheesesteak Sliders!

 

Cajun Seasoned Turkey and Rice Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

1 and ½ lbs. ground turkey

2 Tbsp. no-salt seasoning mix

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 (8 oz.) package Zatarain’s Red Beans and Rice

6 tsps. Olive oil

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

Salt (if deemed necessary for taste)

6 large red, green or mixture of both bell peppers; seeds and white pith removed, set aside tops and bodies.

Preparation:

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, brown together the ground turkey, no-salt seasoning and mushrooms until turkey is no longer pink.  Prepare the Zatarain’s according to package directions.

 

 

Preheat oven to 375F; line the cups of a large muffin tin with aluminum foil; pour a teaspoon of olive oil into each foil lined cup.

 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the skillet mixture, Zatarain’s and diced tomatoes; taste to see if salt needs to be added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stuff each of the bell peppers; place tops back on and put half teaspoon of filling into holes; place each stuffed pepper into a foil lined cup.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Before Baking.

After Baking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makes six servings.

Mary Cokenour 

Welcome to December 2020

In Roman mythology, a pair of twin boys were placed into a basket, set upon the Tiber River, found by a she-wolf and eventually raised by a shepherd and his wife.  The two adult brothers could not agree upon which hill to build their city, held a bird watching contest to decide, and yet still remained at a standstill.  Romulus began building his city on Palatine Hill, and Remus, who was quite the brat, would mock Romulus’ efforts.  One day, Remus decided to jump over a wall his brother had built, and fell to his death.  Now was this punishment from the Gods, or did Romulus, having run out of patience, simply murder his own brother?  In reading the variations of the tale of Romulus and Remus, one will find very many similarities to stories within the Old Testament.

 

Rome was the city that Romulus built, and named after himself; he was king of course.  Around 750 BCE, the Romulus calendar was created, having only ten months, running from March to December.  December has its root beginning from the Latin “decem” which means ten; all the days of winter resided in this month as well.   Now hold on a moment, take into consideration that the Covid-19 pandemic did not officially escalate until March 2020.  Here we are in December 2020, and it is as if the virus is following the Romulus calendar itself. 

 

Anyway, in 45 BCE, Julius Caesar ordered a calendar consisting of twelve months and based upon a solar year. This calendar utilized a cycle of three years of 365 days; followed by a fourth of 366 days, aka Leap Year.  Naming it the “Julian Calendar”, Caesar moved the beginning from March 1^st to January 1^st.

 

Now I know there has been many a debate of when Jesus Christ was actually born.  However, Roman Christian historian Sextus Julius Africanus, using the Romulus calendar, dated Jesus' conception to March 25th (the same date he believed God created the world), which, after nine months in his mother's womb, would result in a December 25th birth.  Using the Julian calendar though, presuming the conception was January 25^th, that would push Jesus’ birthday up to September 25^th.

 

That’s it, I have had enough of 2020 and its nonsense…Jumanji, Jumanji, Jumanji!!!

 

December is a month full of holidays (Yule, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Boxing Day and Omisoka; just to name a few) which have a main focus upon peace and love.  Two facets that this entire world needs a whole lot of, especially after the debacle of the previous eleven months.  Let’s make a deal, instead of focusing on which holiday is the “correct” one for the month of December; let’s just focus on peace and love.  Anyone have an issue with that?  Please be quiet, no one really wants to know what a meanie you truly are.

 

Now, since I started off talking about Roman mythology, how about I continue with some Italian cuisine.  In November, the United States celebrates Thanksgiving with the traditional feast consisting of a cooked turkey.  Now leftovers are also a tradition of this holiday feast, so what to do with them?

 

New story.  Tetrazzini is strictly Italian, that is if you are the opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini who had a recipe created for her back in the early 1900's.  While Tetrazzini enjoyed a lavish career from 1890 to 1920; her life ended in poor health and poverty.  Now two sources claim to be the creators of this recipe named after the famous opera star, the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA and the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York, NY.  Just another version of the West coast versus the East coast; but whoever invented it, I bet, did not foresee the casserole becoming such a hit with the home cook.

 

Basically, Tetrazzini is a casserole made with some type of cooked poultry, canned tuna or raw shrimp which is mixed with diced vegetables, cooked spaghetti and baked together in a luscious, buttery cream sauce.  It is one of those recipes that can incorporate all the food groups in one sitting; if you add diced tomatoes, well there is your fruit group right there.  One thing I know for certain, there will be no leftovers for this casserole.

 

Tetrazzini

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter

3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 Tbsp. dry sherry

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms

1 medium onion, diced

1 lb. spaghetti, cooked and drained

½ cup roasted red bell pepper, diced

3 cups turkey breast, cooked and cut into ½ inch cubes

3/4 cup dry, unseasoned bread crumbs

3 Tbsp. melted butter

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9” x 13” baking dish with nonstick spray.

Make a roux by melting 3 Tbsp. butter, on high heat in a large saucepan; whisk in flour until smooth. It is important to keep whisking, or roux will burn; and the process will have to be started over. Continue whisking while adding chicken broth; sauce will thicken. Whisk in cream, sherry, cheese and black pepper; remove from heat when mixture is smooth.

In a small nonstick skillet, on high heat, melt 2 Tbsp. butter; sauté mushrooms and onions until softened; about three minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the spaghetti, roasted peppers, turkey, sautéed vegetables and sauce; spread evenly into the baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and melted butter; sprinkle evenly over the mixture in the baking dish. Bake, uncovered for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

 

 

 

 

 

Another Pajama Day

I do not envy people who work second or third shifts; did it for eight years, and hated it. Roy did it for 4 years and was not too happy about it either.  However, for all the disdain we felt for the hours, the money and benefits were just too good to give up, so we plodded on.  Mine was also a cushy job; no management watching constantly, only one other coworker, and most of the time we just sat around listening to music, surfing the net, or reading.  Not much to really do when working in a computer server room, and testing programs.  When the financial institution aka “large east coast bank” was bought out, and we got the announcement about being laid off, all I could feel was relief.  I was getting a nice severance package, eligible for unemployment, and a huge bonus for staying on until the company was finally done with the computer operations department.

Roy was soon laid off from his graphic design position too, so we needed to make plans and quickly.  We had made a five year plan, but the layoffs forced us into a two year plan.  Living in Pennsylvania was something we had both started to dislike...intensely.  I had fallen in love with Utah when we visited his mom in 2006, and even then I had said to him, "Honey, one day we are going to live here."  October 2008, we took a two week trip to Utah, scoped out potential areas to live in, and made a decision....we put the PA house up for sale.  Coordinating with realtors in PA and Utah, we sold our home and purchased a new one; well not a new-new one, it was a dumpy handyman special, and we had to put a lot of work, and money, into the house to get it livable for us.  Far from being our dream home, but it had to do.

I have gone on another one of my tangent’s here, so back to working nights.  No matter how many years done, one just cannot get used to sleeping during the day, feeling no sunlight, or missing experiences in the outside world.  We were always tired, mainly due to neighbors who knew we worked nights, but were obsessed with lawn care.  We never really had a full weekend off.  Saturdays were usually spent sleeping part of the day, and then trying to get everything done we did not do during the week.  Sundays we were still playing catch up on chores; then suddenly, it was back to work.

Roy and I have had several jobs since moving to Utah.  While I always worked day shift, he works swing shifts, but it is not as bad as the job in PA was.  We were able to actually have a real pajama day occasionally.    Staying in night clothes, watching movies in bed and basically doing squat all day, and not caring at all.  There is just one main problem, we do not want life to pass us by; do not want to miss anything.  We start out with a pajama day, and then suddenly get dressed in our adventuring clothes, and off we go!

With Covid-19, well pajama days seem to be almost every day, for me at least.  Roy’s an “essential” worker, so his schedule has not really changed much.  But, in essence, do not let life pass you by just cause you can; seize the days and enjoy them.  But once, every once in a while,

give yourself a pajama day cause you earned it.

Originally, my friend Jena, who still lives back in PA, shared this recipe with me.  Came off the back of a soup can, so you know I had to play with it.  Once completely baked, it would not win a fashion award once served, but who cares!?!  This dish is delicious, satisfying and just one of the yummiest recipes I have ever made.   Having a pajama day?  You deserve a serving of this in your belly.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients:

2 whole chicken breasts, deboned, skinned, cooked and diced.

3 Tbsp. chili powder

1 (10.5 oz.) can cream of chicken soup

1 (10.5 oz.) can refried beans

1 (15.5 oz.) jar mild or medium heat, chunky salsa

1 cup sour cream

2 cups grated Mexican style cheese (1and1/2 cups + 1/2 cup set aside)

1 package (10 in package, 6” or 7” diameter) corn tortillas

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In large mixing bowl, mix well the first 7 ingredients (not the 1/2 cup of cheese set aside).

Spray a 2-quart baking dish (round or oval), place 4 tortillas on bottom. Covering bottom and up the sides. Spread out 1/2 the mixture from the bowl. Cover with 3 tortillas, spread out other 1/2 of mixture. Cover with 3 tortillas, spread 1/2 cup of cheese over top of tortillas.  Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 45 minutes; remove foil and bake additional 15 minutes, until top is slightly brown, and mixture is bubbling. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8.

It's not gourmet restaurant fashion pretty, but you will be going back for seconds.  I don't know anyone who would choose pretty, but disgusting food over "it ain't pretty, but so delicious" food.  Well except pretentious people who show off, by spending loads of money, buying "a name" over quality.

Note: The chicken can be boiled, baked in the oven, or purchased pre-cooked.  I make mine by preheating the oven to 350F.  Slice the breasts in half lengthwise (now have 4 pieces), season both sides with salt, ground black pepper and paprika (just a sprinkle of each seasoning on each side of the chicken).  Bake for 20 minutes…the chicken will be fully cooked and juicy, so you will be tempted to eat it.  Don’t!  Dice it up and add to your casserole mixture instead.

Hint:  You can always cook up more chicken, dice it up, add mayonnaise and now you have a delicious chicken salad for sandwiches.

Mary Cokenour

Twisted Dough

Hard or soft, salted or seeded, butter dipped or not, seasoned with herbs and/or spices, anyway it is made, is always a treat.  Can you guess what this baked goody is?  The Pretzel. 

The origins of the pretzel are dependent on which country is telling the story.  600s Italy, a monk created the “pretiolas” (little rewards) to give to good children who had memorized their prayers.  The shape represented the arms of the children, crossed while saying their prayers.  The French have a similar story referencing a monk, while Germany tells of bakers held hostage and forced to bake for royalty and high officials of the church.   However, the earliest documented (key word for historical evidence) is from 1185 Germany.  An illustration of pretzels appeared in the Hortus Delicarum, a manuscript compiled by Herrad of Landsberg, at an abbey in Alsace, which was, then, a region of Germany.  Bakers’ guilds displayed the pretzel within their crest.

By the 1400s, the pretzel had become a sign of the Holy Trinity, given out for the Christmas holiday, and even hung on trees.  In the 1700s, German immigrants followed William Penn to America, and his state of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Dutch aka Amish).  In 1861, Julius Sturgis opened his pretzel bakery in Lititz, PA which offered up soft and hard pretzels to consumers.  Story is that his factory was the first to develop hard pretzels, and no, it was not due to a baker falling asleep while pretzels overbaked.  The crunchy, salty snacks lasted longer in an air tight container, than soft pretzels did.  This allowed them to be sold in stores far away from Lititz, and kept on shelves much longer.  Roy and I have visited this historic place several times, and highly recommend, if visiting Lancaster County, PA, to put this on your touring to-do list.  Besides getting to feast on delicious pretzels, hands on experience in pretzel twisting is part of the factory’s tour.  (https://juliussturgis.com/)

Personally, I feel so lucky that I was able to experience, during childhood, getting a huge (as big as my head!) soft pretzel from a street vendor.  A pushcart full of soft baked pretzels, kept warm from the heat of glowing charcoal.  The saltiness mixed with a smoky aroma, the soft consistency giving comfort physically and mentally.  Talk about complete satisfaction!

Soft pretzels can be found in your grocer’s freezer; who has not heard of “Super Pretzel”?  However, I recently found a company called “Eastern Standard Provisions Co.” (https://esprovisions.com/), located in Maine, and the photographs on their website made my mouth crave soft pretzels.  The website describes their soft pretzels as, “a pretzel with the airy qualities of a brioche on the inside and a traditional Bavarian-style crust on the outside.”  Sold!

I purchased the “Love at First Bite” gift box which included five Wheelhouse pretzels and 3 types of salt.  Paying attention (see, I can!) to the instruction guide, the oven baked the pretzels to perfection.  Soft and blissfully chewy, the salt was a crisp bite which tickled the tongue, and the butter smeared on, before baking, had permeated the interior.

Spread butter onto pretzels

Press salt onto butter

After baking.

Inside, pretzel is hot, soft and buttery delcious!

Now whether you decide to try this product, or purchase the one from the market, here’s a huge hint; always bake them!  Microwaving ruins the entire experience.

Want to try your hand at making your own?  There are so many recipes located online, video demonstrations, and in baking books.  You will not know which recipe is right for your tastes, unless you try.  The San Juan Record Bookstore offers a variety of genre, including cooking and baking.  Stop in and see if one of their books has the right recipe for you.

Mary Cokenour