Stuffed Bell Peppers

Last year at school a couple of my roommates made stuffed bell peppers.  They were very good but at the time I wasn't much of a vegetable person, so it never occurred to me to make them again.  Then I evolved into a vegetable lover, the grocery store put bell peppers on sale last week, and I stocked up.  I made the pepper soup again but we still had a lot left, so we decided to try to make stuffed peppers.  They were delicious.

Goulash

Beef goulash is another of those recipes that sounds disgusting but tastes delicious.  We eat this very frequently during the fall and winter because it's the perfect cold-weather food.  Suck it up and try it, even if the sound of it grosses you out.  You'll thank me later.

Pot Roast with Pan Roasted Vegetables

I've already shared Mom's recipe for pot roast with mushroom gravy.  As good as that pot roast is, this recipe is my favorite.  Oddly enough, the inspiration for the recipe came from a Weight Watchers recipe, which, as you all know, is very unlike my family.  But it's so tasty that's it has managed to stick around.

Feijoada

The Barefoot Contessa  has done two shows on roasted fruits and vegetables today.  On one of her shows, she said roasting is a great trick for the wintertime when vegetables have less flavor, because it concentrates the flavor.  I've been on a roasted vegetable kick lately, so it's all I can do not to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of veggies, and spend the day roasting away.

Anyway, Mom is feeling much better today.  She's buzzing around like a very annoying little bee, putting away all the Christmas decorations.  I told her if she'd chill for a bit, I'd gladly help her.  Her response was, "I can do it.  And, if I'd a felt like it yesterday, it'd already've been done, ya'll."  Buzz, buzz.

Although she's feeling better today, yesterday was probably the worst of Mom's cold, so I was on my own to concoct dinner with a house full of food.  Brother Jason and I ate at a Brazilian restaurant in OKC last week and I had an amazing dish called feijoada, which is Brazil's national dish.  It's a black bean stew with pork and beef served with rice and collard greens.  Since I didn't have access to all the ingredients included in a typical recipe, I came up with my own using the ham leftover from Christmas dinner.

Pot Roast with Mushroom Gravy

Since it's Christmastime and the house is full of sweet treats, I have been subsisting off candy all day.  I had turtles for breakfast and chocolate balls for lunch.  Fortunately, Mom came through with a nourishing meal for dinner, making one of her two fantastic pot roast recipes.  She even added some green stuff to the plate.