For a meal created without a recipe, these peppers came out pretty good.  We ended up adding a bit of salt and they could’ve used more herbs, but they definitely weren’t bad.  An even better, and unintended, result was that my husband felt completely full afterwards, which is apparently a rarity.  I guess I need to work on making more filling meals for the poor guy.

There are a million stuffed pepper variations, this is mine.  They’re sort of Italian-style…with black beans.  Stuffed peppers are a fabulous way to use up bits of ingredients in your pantry.  The half an onion, leftover beans, half box of pasta and that bit of cheese you don’t know what to do with?  This is it.  If you’ve got rice or quinoa or other vegetables, use those.  I didn’t buy anything specifically for this recipe besides the peppers and they turned out really well.

Also, I would like it apologize in advance for our harsh kitchen lighting.  It is very non-conductive to food photography.

“Whatever’s In The Pantry” Stuffed Peppers

Serves 4

You’ll need:

• 6 bell peppers
• 4 oz uncooked orzo pasta
• 1 tomato
• 1 cup black beans (or whatever beans you have on hand)
• 1/2 of an onion
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• salt
• fresh basil
• fresh oregano
• mozzarella cheeese

1.  Cook the orzo according to package directions.

2.  While the orzo cooks, cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds.

3. Dice the tomato and onion.  Finely chop the basil and oregano.

4.  Drain the orzo and transfer it to a mixing bowl.  Add the tomato, onion, ricotta, black beans, salt and herbs to the bowl.  Mix well.

5. Stuff each of the peppers full of the orzo filling.

6.  Top each pepper with a bit of shredded mozzarella cheese.  Cover with foil and  cook at 350° for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the cheese has browned a bit (or, in our case, until you can’t wait any more)

7.  Serve and enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Delicious Bowl of Mush
2. Another Experiment: Tortilla and Bean Torte
3. Satisfying Soup and Amazing Biscuits

Ever visit Wordle?

I hadn’t in a while, but just popped over there as part of a project for work.  I plugged in the URL for Relishments and this is what I got:I really like creating these things.  Larger words are ones which occur more often and you can alter the orientation and color scheme.  Apparently I use the word “kitchen” a lot.  Too much?  How about “post”?  Strangely addicting.  I’ve used Wordle for Christmas cards and my original site header was a Wordle design.  It’s also fun to use in a classroom, which is what I’m supposed to be doing right now.

Instead, I’m seeing what happens when I plug in The Kitchn:

And G4TV (Brian’s suggestion):

Okay…apparently it’s time for me to get back to work.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll post about food.

Related posts:

1. On Food, Fads, Teaching and Twitter
2. Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food
3. 'Food Snob' Quiz and Other Good News

Our kitchen drawer--points to whoever can name everything in it.

Brian and I have a fairly well stocked kitchen, made up of hand-me-downs, wedding presents, things we bought for ourselves and items I’ve picked up at Goodwill and tag sales (my new obsessions).  Nevertheless, I’ll never say no to going into a kitchen store (or the kitchen department of a store) because I think that kitchen gadgets are really really cool.  Maybe I need to get out more?  I don’t know.  At any rate, some websites for people who love kitchen tools as much as I do:

Last year in honor of Christmas, I wrote a post featuring My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets.  If I had to redo the post today, I’d probably also include the cocktail shaker (from Goodwill…and not just for cocktails!), blender, Kitchenaid Mixer (how did the mixer not make it on the first list?!), and pastry mat.

Everyday Minimalist did a similar post this week, listing her 15 essential kitchen utensils.  I agree with most of her list, but could easily do without 7, 9 or 15.

The Kitchn (I know, I link to them a lot, they’re awesome) did 2 kitchen tool round ups this week: spatulas and corn cob holders.  We always had corn cob holders growing up, but Brian and I haven’t gotten around to getting any.  We do, however, have 4 ears of corn in the fridge, so perhaps I should think about this further.

This post was made for me (and my husband): 10 Nerdy Kitchen Finds In Honor Of Comic Con

Chow had a post about the website Pop Deluxe, which “houses one of the larger collections of useless kitchen tools we’ve ever seen.”  I, of course, went to the website and found the gadgets adorable.  Granted, I probably won’t actually buy any of them, but they’re fun to look at and could make an entertaining gift.

$5 Dinners asks “What kitchen utensil could you not live without, if you were stuck on a tropical island?”.  A lot of people went for knives, which made sense, but perhaps a hot pot for my tea?

Take a look at this Serious Eats post featuring The Best Mixing Bowls, which also mentions the idea that it’s safe to put metal in the microwave.  Did anyone else know that?  I’m not sure I believe it.

The TofuXpress review on Eat Well with Janel made me wonder if I’ve been doing tofu “wrong”, since I’ve never pressed mine at all.  May need to look into that.  Anyway, apparently the press is pretty awesome, if you press your tofu.

What’s your favorite (most fun/useful/unique, etc) kitchen tool?

Related posts:

1. A Letter to Our Kitchen Elf
2. Cleaning out your kitchen
3. Highlights: Hot Stuff

• “Highlights” are now going to posted on Sundays, because that’s usually when I actually get around to posting them anyway.  Less stress for me, better posts for you.
• If you only view Relishments through a RSS Reader (or just don’t pay attention to anything besides the posts), you may not have realized that a couple weeks ago I added a Recipe Index to the menu bar at the top of the site.  The Recipe Index is a list of all the recipes I’ve shared and reviewed on the site so far. Hopefully the index will made the site even more useful to you.  Please let me know if you find any problems with it.

Reminders:

• You can follow me on Twitter: @relishments
• Relishments also has a Facebook page
• I am so grateful for your readership! Thank you for all your recent comments.

Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Reminder…and Good News
2. Highlights: Good News (thank goodness!)
3. 'Food Snob' Quiz and Other Good News

We know you exist.  You may have tried to keep your existence a secret, but let’s be frank: you did a pretty poor job of it.

Your presence was made obvious by the fact that our utensils, especially the vegetable peeler, keep disappearing from their assigned drawers.  I’m not doing it, and Brian says he’s not either, so clearly you are the one moving our utensils.  I’m sure you think it’s funny to watch us search for the vegetable peeler on a daily basis.

Just like you think that putting spells on our appliances is funny.  You make our refrigerator shrink while I’m grocery shopping so there’s no room for my purchases when I return home and cause our stove top to never have the correct burner turned on.  Moving tools is one thing, but playing with appliances that belong to our landlord is an entirely different matter.

Speaking of grocery shopping, I also know you’re hiding things in our pantry.  I check to see what we have before I go food shopping, so why do we suddenly have 5 cans of tomatoes when I just went and bought 4 more?  Items that I was sure we had seem to mysteriously disappear as well.  Please stop rearranging and/or hiding our food (or eating it, if that’s the case).

Honestly though, you keep things interesting around here.  It’s good to know that it’s not Brian or I doing any of the above behaviors.  And we wouldn’t mind you sticking around.  We just have one request:  once in a while, could you please do the dishes?

Sincerely,

Emily

Related posts:

1. Highlights: Kitchen Accessories
2. My New Kitchen (and Curried Brown Rice)
3. My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Meet kohlrabi.  We met 2 weeks ago at our CSA.  Any vegetable that’s bright purple gets points in my book; I’m a sucker for anything purple.  And it just looks cool, with all those “tentacles” sticking out.  It looks more to me like some sort of alien creature than a vegetable (maybe I watch too much TV?), but I’m a firm believer in trying everything at the farm, so we took one home, ate it, and last week got 2 more.

Kohlrabi is apparently part of the cabbage family (?!), but Brian and I peeled, sliced and cooked our more like a potato, in a skillet with oil and dill.  I’m sure there are much more exciting things to do with it, but this tasted pretty darn good.  Trying out vegetables I’d never buy at the supermarket is definitely of the best parts of being (temporary) members of a CSA.  This summer I’ve tried turnips, beets, garlic scapes and greens I’d never had before.  Even better: Today is Tuesday and we get to pick up more vegetables!

Anyone else try any new foods lately?

Related posts:

1. Summer = Fresh Food
2. Remind me why I'd make my own stock

Brian and I ended up with a lot of summer squash and zucchini this week, since we picked it up at the farm two weeks in a row and didn’t use it up the first week.  We need clear crisper drawers in our fridge, because I am definitely an “out of sight, out of mind” person when it comes to food.  Luckily, in my collection of recipes, I stumbled on one for Summer Squash Ribbons.  And, in a stroke of luck, Brian and I headed out to Trader Joe’s and discovered that they have really affordable goat cheese (now if only TJ’s wasn’t so far away!!)  We had every other ingredient already in our pantry.

The recipe is insanely simple and fast: use a peeler (or mandoline, if you’re lucky enough to have one) to create thin strips of zucchini and summer squash; marinate in oil and vinegar for 10 minutes; top with salt and pepper; serve, topped with goat cheese and basil.  If you want more specific instructions than that, check out the recipe that inspired me:  Summer Squash Ribbons on the Kitchn.

It’s fair to be apprehensive about eating raw zucchini and summer squash; we were.  But this salad is so so good.  As in, that goat cheese may not last long, because I want to make it again and again until squash season is over.  We’re pretty sure it’d be just as good with mozzerella or feta, too.

Make this salad.  Today.  And suddenly, you won’t be so depressed about making use of all that summer squash.

Related posts:

1. Barbecue Hit: Giada's Mediterranean Salad
2. Satisfying Soup and Amazing Biscuits
3. Summer = Fresh Food

But sometimes all these fresh veggies are overwhelming.  I want to use as much of them as possible while they’re in season, but what do you do with so much food?  Luckily, the internet is here to help with that issue.  Confession: I haven’t made any of these recipes yet, but they all look good to me and we’ve still go time for trying them out.

A reader on The Kitchn asked for “quick, easy ways to get more vegetables into her diet” and the answer features several recipe round ups, plus a bunch of helpful reader comments.

Apparently, colored cauliflower is all over the place.  I didn’t realize this, but perhaps I just haven’t been looking.  Will people eat more vegetables if they look really cool? (Hint: My post for tomorrow says “yes”)

The Marinated Mushroom Salad on Serious Eats looks like a yummy side dish…I may have to try it this week.  Brian has recently realized that he doesn’t hate mushrooms, so now I don’t have to think twice about using them.

I made this recipe for “movie style” ratatouille a couple weeks ago, but there’s a more traditional ratatouille recipe from the Boston Globe that I wouldn’t mind trying out (especially since I’ve got a whole bunch of eggplant in my freezer).

I eat way fewer sandwiches than I used to, but these White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Vegetable Wraps with Spinach featured on Cheap Healthy Good might change that.

Summer Vegetable Salad is this week’s “What’s On Your Plate?” recipe on Good Cheap Eats.  It’s like pasta salad…only more veggie-y.

I don’t have a grill or a grill pan, but this Layered Vegetable Tort in the NY Times looks so appetizing I may have to get one–or find another way to cook the vegetables.

We’ve recently picked up some carrots at the CSA…green tops and all.  Luckily, the internet also has recipes for carrot tops.  Maybe this week they’ll get used instead of tossed.  (via The Kitchn)

And, last but not least, recipes for everyone’s favorite summer bumper crop, zucchini:

Zucchini pilaf with almonds (Diner’s Journal)

Herbivoracious’ zucchini stuffed zucchini blossoms

12 recipes to help eat  up all your zucchini, from the Kitchn.

I’ve recently discovered 2 more ways to use up our CSA vegetables which are delicious–but that’s getting its own post, tomorrow.

(Almost) Every Saturday, I choose a theme and highlight blog posts, websites and news articles from my Google Reader which I found interesting (and hope you do too!) If you want more reading, check out “What I’m Reading” on my sidebar.  And don’t forget to add Relishments to your reader or “like” Relishments on Facebook!

Related posts:

1. Things My Man and I Disagreed On While Making Dinner
2. Making Up for Lost Time
3. Sunday "Live Blogging": Making Rice

If you missed Part 1 of my favorite eateries in the Boothbay Region, check it out.  Part 2 is focused more on snack and dessert establishments, but who says you can’t have ice cream for lunch?

Wannawaf (Boothbay Harbor)

Above is a picture of an amazing hot dog.  It’s called “A Dog Named Jeff” and it’s got mayonnaise, stone ground mustard, caramelized onions and fresh onions…and maybe something else.  It’s hard to remember.  Anyway, the hot dogs and their respective combination (they’ve got a dozen or so creations that I’d never think of) are awesome.  But that’s not why we go to Wannwaf.   We go to Wannawaf for the ice cream. Staying with the theme from Part 1, Wannawaf is an order at the window and eat at picnic tables establishment located on the waterfront in the Harbor.  They serve ice cream sundaes over Belgian waffles.  The combinations, once again, are incredible. This time around we tried a S’more variety: waffle, vanilla ice cream, marshmallow topping, hot fudge and walnuts.  So good.

Gelato Fiasco (Brunswick)

Image from The Gelato Fiasco website

If you leave the Boothbay penninsula and head south–to go to Brunswick, Cooks Corner, or Portland, you’ll come close to or go through Brunswick.  And when my family passes through Brunswick, we stop at Gelato Fiasco pretty much every time.  My sister once went 3 times in one weekend, it’s that good.  As I’ve mentioned before, the flavor selection is creative and delicious(banana, chocolate orange, ginger, pomegranate lime, dark chocolate caramel) and the atmosphere is inviting and relaxing.  Gelato Fiasco also supplies a number of Maine and New Hampshire restaurants and stores with their product, including a recently opened gelato stand in Boothbay Harbor.

Downeast Ice Cream Factory (Boothbay Harbor)

When I worked summers in Boothbay Harbor (every summer of my high school and college careers, plus a couple summers after), I always sent people to the Downeast Ice Cream Factory for dessert.  The servings are big, the ice cream locally made and they have tons of flavors, many Maine related (maple, blueberry, whoopie pie, etc).

Coastal Maine Popcorn (Boothbay Harbor)

image from Coastal Maine Popcorn

As I mentioned last year, Coastal Maine Popcorn is one of my favorite places to grab a snack in Boothbay Harbor.  They make 34 flavors and though I’m much more into savory popcorn (salt & vinegar, buffalo wing, wasabi soy) than sweet (marshmallow, fresh peach, root beer), I’ve never had a flavor that didn’t taste exactly like what it was supposed to.  Brian and I headed home with 3 bags this trip: Tuscan Herb, White Cheddar and Parmesan Garlic.   Of course, we’re all out again, so if anyone in Boothbay wants to send some our way, we’d be eternally grateful.

Frontier Cafe (Brunswick)

If I lived in Brunswick, I’d probably spend a lot of time at the Frontier Cafe (when I wasn’t eating gelato, of course).  I reviewed them a year ago, but I needed to share the experience with Brian. The Frontier Cafe is a combination of wonderful things: good coffee, local and organic food, art, films, beer and wine. This time around, Brian and I got the French Marketplate (Black Forest Ham, Brie, House Made Pate, Fish Bowl Farm Organic Roasted Beet, Sliced Tomato, Coquillo Olives, Cornichons, Grainy Mustard, Baguette); as you can see, it’s beautiful.  It tasted beautiful, too.

Honorable Mentions:

Sarah’s Cafe (Wiscasset) – We didn’t have time to go to Sarah’s this time around, but their diverse menu and reasonable prices helped make Sarah’s one of my family’s favorites.

Kaler’s Crab and Lobster House (Boothbay Harbor) – Another one of the places I always sent tourists to, Kaler’s is my pick for cheap, fried seafood, though they have really good salads too.

Boathouse Bistro (Boothbay Harbor) – Brian’s been bugging me to try out the Boathouse Bistro’s tapas menu for years and we finally got around to it this summer.  Everything we tried was unique and yummy, as were my parents entrees.  Besides, tapas are just fun.

What Boothbay region eating establishments did I miss?

Related posts:

1. Favorite Places: Coastal Maine Popcorn Company
2. Where I Eat When I Go to Maine (Part 1)
3. Two (More) Reasons Maine is Awesome

There were a bunch of blog posts featuring no-cook, stay cool meals this week.  Not that I took advantage of any of them–being on vacation, followed by going back to work, followed by a big test didn’t make me the best menu planner this week.  There’s still a lot of summer left though, so I’m sure these recipes will come in handy..

It’s “No-Cook Month” over at Cheap Healthy Good.  They’re posting recipes for things like Greek Antipasto Pita and Chocolate Cherry “Ice Cream” Popsicles (I made them with strawberries and they were awesome).  They also provided 13 ways to cook without an oven –using everything from a grill to a car engine.  I lost my mind on Wednesday this week and made tomato sauce, biscuits and ratatouille after I got home from school.  I probably should’ve read this article and kept the oven off.  Although, if you’re already hot and sweaty, what difference does it make?

The Kitchn has 7 recipes to help beat the heat, like Broccoli and Feta Pasta Salad or Vegetable and Mint Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce.  Also, check out their 10 recipes for watermelon. I haven’t had watermelon yet this summer; I should probably do something about that soon.

Epicurious calls ceviche “summer’s best no-cook dish” and Serious Eats posted a step-by-step guide on how to make ceviche.  Has anyone actually made ceviche, or is it just something they do on Chopped and Top Chef to sound fancy?  Was it worth it?

Planet Green’s 40 recipes to make when its too hot to cook includes soups, salads, main courses, desserts and ideas for entertaining.  If you can’t find something there, you might just want to order take out.

Finally, if you’re not too hot and tired to have people over, Serious Eats has a few No-Cook One-Handed Appetizers for your summer parties.

If you’re in more of a dessert mood (for some reason, the heat makes me want to eat nothing but junk), check out the June 5th highlights featuring ice cream and popsicle recipes.  I thought it was hot then–clearly I had no idea what I was talking about.

We’ve been advised by a couple people to make the investment in an air conditioner.  What do you think?  Vote, then add your comments below.

Stay cool!

(Almost) Every Saturday, I choose a theme and highlight blog posts, websites and news articles from my Google Reader which I found interesting (and hope you do too!) If you want more reading, check out “What I’m Reading” on my sidebar.  And don’t forget to add Relishments to your reader or like Relishments on Facebook!

Related posts:

1. What I Cook When I Can’t Really Cook
2. Highlights: Keeping Cool
3. Highlights: Education Edition