The problem with making ten stuffed pepper halves is that they wipe out your dinner plans for the next few days. So here is what we ate on our leftover night. I took one of the halves and topped it with more sauce and cheese and microwaved it for two minutes. Along with the pepper we shared the leftover tabbouleh from Monday night. I think the peppers were even tastier than they were last night and the prep and cleanup was minimal.
While perusing the shelf full of various overpriced orange, yellow, and red bell peppers I noticed a bag of colorful peppers on the shelf above. These actual looked healthier than the expensive ones on the shelf below. Usually I make three halved peppers at a time but if I buy the bagged ones not only will I save at least $1.50 but I will also get five peppers or ten halves. Of course I am making more work for myself but I will probably have six halves left over for another dinner and probably a lunch too! Win, win!
I browned one pound of ground beef and added onions, garlic, and oregano. Then I mixed in a cup and a half of rice that John had made a few days ago. Next I mixed in a jar of Rao’s tomato and basil sauce which I bulked up with tomato purée, tomato paste and red wine. That mixture cooked together for 20 minutes before I stuffed the bell pepper halves. I had par-cooked all the bell pepper halves in the microwave for six minutes. The whole 9 x 13 dish went in the 350F oven for about an hour.
John said these were the best stuffed peppers I had ever made!
Clockwise- hummus, pita, tabbouleh, and red cabbage
Except for the tabbouleh this was kind of an open packages and arrange on plate kind of dinner. The hummus was Sabra garlic, the pita was Toufayan whole wheat, and the red cabbage came from a jar that John got for Christmas. The tabbouleh I made with bunches of parsley and mint, garlic, tomatoes, lemon juice, and green onions all mixed with bulgar wheat and olive oil. I had to get out my food processor to get everything chopped up. It turned out pretty good although the lemons were Meyer lemons and did not add quite the level of acidity that I was looking for.
Tacos are a fun dinner any night of the week. Sometimes we make beef tacos, sometimes chicken, or fish or shrimp. Tonight’s dinner featured shrimp with a mango/tomato salsa. The yellow honey or Southeast Asian mangoes were on sale for 2/$1 so I gave them a try. They tasted less sweet and more citric than the green/red Indian mangoes that I usually buy. To make up for the difference I added a little sweetener and oil to the salsa along with a couple of tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and a squirt of sriracha. John was in charge of cooking the shrimp which he did perfectly. I added a can of Rotel to my can of black beans as well as onion, cilantro, and garlic. Altogether this was a good dinner, the kind you wish there was more of!
Thursdays are Sarah’s nights to cook. Tonight she made a pasta dish with spaghetti, roasted cherry tomatoes, olive oil, and feta. It was delicious!
The broccoli was freshly made for tonight’s dinner but everything else was a leftover. We made the lamb by grilling it on Sunday and the potatoes came from last night’s dinner. To reheat the lamb John set up the sous vide apparatus and warmed the meat at 125F for 90 minutes. When it was done it was still pink and juicy. Nothing tasted like a leftover!
Sometimes it’s nice to have a special dinner on just an ordinary weekday. Although scallops are a pricey item there is absolutely no waste. John seared them beautifully and I made mashed potatoes and asparagus as sides. I also made a tartar sauce. Our dinner, if we had ordered this out, would probably cost close to $50 per person so this was a doable luxe dinner at $10 per person.
We have been enjoying this chicken lo mein for a few months now. Using shredded rotisserie chicken, spaghetti, and bagged fresh vegetables already cut have made this an easy weeknight dinner. Below is the original recipe with the changes we made in my narrative.
Omnivore 