Stuffed Green Bell Peppers

This is my recipe for Stuffed Peppers, that I hope you enjoy. This recipe is perfect for 2 or 3 people but you can always change the amounts to make more or less. At the bottom of the post you will find a summary of the recipe that you can copy and print.

First gather your ingredients:  4 Bell Peppers, 1 Cup Rice, 1 Lb Beef, Worcester Sauce, Can of Diced Tomatoes, Paprika, Taco Seasoning, Garlic Powder, 1 Onion, Shredded Cheese. Optional ingredients include:  Onion Powder and Tabasco Sauce. You should also preheat your oven to 400 Degrees.

Next you should prep your peppers. After you rinse them, cut off the tops and pull out the seeds. If there are some seeds that fall to the bottom just turn the pepper over and tap it on your cutting board, and they will fall out nice and easy. After you have done that you should cook your rice, brown your beef and saute the onions.

Once your ground beef has been browned and drained of fat, follow the directions on the back of your taco seasoning packet and simmer your meat, taco seasonings, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, Worcester sauce and Tabasco.

Add the diced tomatoes and sauteed onions to the rice, and stir well. Once you have cooked your meat according to the taco seasonings packet and all of the excess water is cooked off, you can mix everything together to finish off your stuffing.

Now that your filling is complete, you can to stuff the bell peppers all the way to the top. I put the peppers in a pan lined with foil for easy cleanup, but that is optional.

Once your peppers are full, cover the top with shredded cheese. I had some leftover filling so I put it in a small baking dish and baked it with the peppers. It makes for a nice lunch the next day or even just some extra filling on the side. Bake the peppers for 30 minutes until the outsides look soft and sort of wrinkly, and your dinner is complete! Hope your enjoy.

Stuffed Green Bell Peppers
- 4 or 5 Bell Peppers
- 1 Cup Rice
- 1 Pound Beef
- 2 Tablespoons Worcester Sauce
- 1 Can Diced Tomatoes
- 1 Teaspoon Paprika
- 1 Packet of Taco Seasoning
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 Whole Chopped Onion
- 1 Cup Shredded Cheese
- Tabasco Sauce

Step One:
Prep your peppers, by cutting off the tops and removing the seeds. Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees. Brown the ground beef, saute the chopped onions and cook the rice.

Step Two:
Add the Worcester Sauce, Paprika, Garlic Powder, and Taco Seasonings to the ground beef. If the directions on the back of the taco packet ask for water added, go ahead and add it but be sure to simmer the meat long enough to cook off the excess water.

Step Three:
Add your diced tomatoes and onions to the rice and heat up. If you want to you can add your Tabasco sauce at this point to your own preferences. Once you have fully cooked your ground beef and seasonings, mix it in with your rice and your pepper filling is complete.

Step Four:
Fill the peppers with the meat and rice mixture, then top with shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes until the bell peppers are nice and tender.

Melted Chocolate Cookie Cutter Shapes

Here is a great idea for theme birthday party treats or even cake decorating. Its very simple but can make a big impact!

4th of July Cake

These chocolate shapes are really easy to make but can take a cake to the next level. All you need is your favorite type of chocolate chips or bar and a few baking supplies.

You will need a microwave safe bowl, spatula, cookie cutters and a bakers sheet. The food coloring is optional, and only effective if you are using white chocolate.

Chocolate chips will only take about a minute to melt in the microwave, just be careful not to burn them. The chips will retain their shape but as soon as you begin to stir them they will have an even consistency.

After you grease your cookie pan place your cookie cutters on the pan. Scoop a layer of chocolate out into the cutters and just shake the shapes a bit to even them out. This part needs to be done quickly before the chocolate hardens. It is very difficult to remelt the chips without burning them.

At this point I had attempted to add some icing coloring to the mixture, it ended up ruining the entire batch so I would advise against doing that. This is what happened.

After the chocolate has re-hardened you can paint on the icing coloring. If you need to speed things up you can pop them in the freezer and they will be hardened in about 5 minutes or less.

I used some cling wrap to create the marbled effect since I was not a fan of the streaks.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial, and maybe it will inspire some creativity of your own!

Peanut Butter and Carrot Dog Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

In honor of my Dog Penny's first birthday I decided to make her a cake. It was surprisingly easy and used a lot of ingredients I had on hand. Obviously you don't have to use the biscuits around the edge, your pup will gobble it up just fine, but I wanted it to be cute. The tutorial for the Homemade Biscuits are here. At the bottom of this tutorial I have a condensed version of the cake recipe for easy copy paste. Enjoy!!

Start by preheating the oven to 350 Degrees and gathering your ingredients.

Flour, Baking Soda, Peanut Butter, Vegetable Oil, Carrots, Honey , 1 Egg and  Cream Cheese.

Combine all of your ingredients and mix well until you form a batter. I used a 9" pan which gave me about a 1 1/2 inch thick cake.

Bake at 350 Degrees for 30 Minutes on the lowest rack. For icing you can use Peanut Butter, yogurt or Cream Cheese like me. I wanted a purple cake so I added a bit of food coloring. Now you have a tasty cake for your Doggy Celebration. If you want the biscuits around the outside keep reading for instructions.

After you cut your biscuit dough from the recipe here into whatever shape you want to use, take a same size greased cake pan and press your raw biscuits along the outside to get the rounded biscuits. Since the oven is at 350 Degrees your biscuits will only take around 25-30 mins.

Now all you have to do is decorate! But trust me your dog won't care what it looks like, it will be reduced to crumbs in no time.

Peanut Butter and Carrot Dog Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
- 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 Cup Shredded Carrots
- 2 Generous Spoonfuls of Honey
- 1 Egg

Combine all your ingredients and mix well into a batter. Bake in a greased pan at 350 Degrees for 30 Minutes. Frost with room temperature Cream Cheese once the cake has completely cooled.

Homemade Dog Biscuits

This recipe is very simple and most of the ingredients are things you probably have in your pantry right now. My dogs can't seem to get enough of them either. There is a condensed version of the recipe and instructions at the bottom of the post.

First gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 325 Degrees:

Rolled Oats, Butter, 1 Cup Water, Corn Meal, Sugar, Milk, Cheese, Egg and Flour

Melt the 3 Tblsp of butter and combine with 1 Egg, 1 Cup Hot Water, and 1/2 Cup Milk, then whisk together. Measure out 1 Cup Rolled Oats, 3/4 Cup Corn Meal (I used corn muffin mix), 2 Tsp Sugar, 1 Cup Shredded Cheese and 3 Cups AP Flour.

After you form a loose ball of dough, prep your cutting board or pastry board to roll out the dough. Sprinkle a bit of flour over the surface to prevent sticking as well as some extra flour on the top of the dough ball. Roll out until your desired thickness, I kept mine around 1/2 inch since I have a medium sized dog and a puppy. For larger dogs you could make them thicker or vice versa for smaller dogs. 

(Hint:  If you don't have a Rolling Pin, you can cover the dough with cling wrap or wax paper and use a can or jar to roll out the dough.)

I found some dog shaped cookie cutters at Wal-Mart for less than $3, so I cut the biscuits into your typical bone shape, but you could just use a Pizza Cutter and make bars/strips. Once you have prepped your cookie sheet with cooking spray, bake at 325 Degrees for at least 30 Minutes. If you're biscuits are thicker than 1/2 inch they will need up to 45 Minutes.

You could add dissolved beef or chicken bouillon cubes, or even chopped up beef jerky bits for some different flavor ideas. I hope your puppies enjoy them as much as mine did.

Homemade Cheese Flavored Dog Biscuits


Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Rolled Oats
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 Cup Hot Water
- 3/4 Cup Corn Meal
- 2 Teaspoons Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1 Cup Shredded Cheese
- 1 Egg
- 3 Cups Flour

Step One:
Combine 3 Tblsp melted butter, 1 Cup Hot Water, 1/2 Cup Milk, and 1 Egg, then whisk together. Then add your dry ingredients and shape them into a loose ball.

Step Two:
Roll out your dough to around 1/2 inch thick. After cutting into shape or bars, place on greased baking pan and bake at 325 Degrees for 35-45 minuted until browned and crisp.