Fettuccine stuffed Green Peppers

Green peppers were on sale at the grocery store.  I decided to buy four of them and make something different for dinner. I have never made stuffed peppers before and quite frankly, I am not sure I could make them as good as my mother did.  Since I was not ready to cross that threshold yet, I decided to stuff them with something different than rice like my mom did.

I broke a 1 pound box of fettuccine in half and boiled until al-dente. Don't forget to salt your water before boiling your dry pasta! It makes a difference! While the pasta is boiling, I cut the tops off of my green peppers.

I discarded the seeds and the ribs and rinsed out the inside.  I chopped the tops up and put into a saute pan with more peppers and several Vidalia onions chopped up.  Also into this pan, I sliced some Polska Kielbasa  into the peppers and onions.

I let this saute while the pasta boiled.  I pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees and put the empty peppers into a baking pan.

When the pasta was finished, I drained it and put it into a large bowl with the sauteed vegetables and kielbasa along with a large jar of Pepper and Mushroom spaghetti sauce. I mixed it very well and then filled each pepper with the pasta mixture.

On top of the pasta mixture I shook a large amount of grated Parmesan onto the top. I also added some provolone cheese.  I would have preferred mozzarella but I did not have any and I was not going to go back to the store.  I baked these for approximately 25 minutes until the cheese was all melted and the peppers became tender. 

My husband loves peppers and onion and sausage so he really enjoyed the dinner!

Pasta CarboNOT....

As usual, tonight's dinner inspiration came from my need NOT to go out to the grocery store! I was tired!  I threw a batch of my cornbread in the oven for starters and then begin to look around to see what I had.

Bacon.  You can't go wrong there, right?  I decided to make a sort of Pasta Carbonara...that is until I read the recipe all the way through.  I am not really a big fan of using raw eggs that don't really get cooked (go figure, as I am the first person eating the cookie dough or cake batter!).

As the bacon fried up all crispy in a skillet, I poured a large amount (probably around 2 1/2 to 3 cups) of milk in a bowl and set aside to warm up a little.  Four tablespoons of real butter went in a pot to melt.  To that I added two heaping tablespoons of flour and let it create a nice blonde roux.  This is the way I usually start making my own homemade bechemel sauce.  After the flour cooked a little bit and got bubbly, I slowly added the milk, a little at a time, stirring and adding. I then grated some fresh nutmeg into the bechemel along with some black pepper. I let this simmer on the stove.

The bacon was put on a plate to drain.  I then took a second small saucepan and put two tablespoons of butter in to melt on low.  I added about 1/2 of a large onion, chopped.  Next I added some Hunt's diced tomatoes (drained and only a few tablespoons) and some chopped garlic.  This sat on low and softened and married flavors.

While the pasta was boiling (I used angel hair), I added a small handful of finely grated cheddar cheese to the bechemal. I did not add a whole lot of cheese as I truly was not going for a cheese sauce.  I just wanted the added depth of flavor.

When my pasta was al-dente I drained and mixed in my bechemel sauce.  I added my crumbled bacon and stirred well.  I served this with the onion, tomato and garlic mixture to the side as I have quite a few picky eaters at my table.  I will say it was simply the most flavorful pasta ever! I loved the slight addition of the tomato, onion and garlic mixed in with the pasta and bechemel.  So yum.  I think it has made its way onto my regular menu.  The cornbread served with this made it a rather rustic dinner.

Now I am off to church! Sadly, since I spent so much time with my bechemel I did not have time to make goodies for the youth group! Oh well! I am sure they will let me slide this one Wednesday!