Egg and pepper sandwiches

I'm not a big fan of green peppers. I neither like nor dislike them, but every once in a while I get really hungry for egg and pepper sandwiches.

It's far from a culinary triumph but it hit the spot and fulfilled the craving.

It started as one large green pepper, four eggs, and some buns. We had a mismatch of buns. Two kaiser and a potato hot dog bun. Child requested the hot dog bun.

We sliced the peppers into long slivers and fried them over low heat in olive oil & butter. I sprinkled them generously with garlic pepper.

Once the peppers changed to a more mellow color and softened, I jacked up the heat and added the scrambled four egg mixture (I had added about 1/4 cup water to it). 

And that is it. 

So good I want another.

Bagels and peaches

The interface still has some issues, so let's hope this works.

My budget goals for September are still on track! Since I found six dollars in my wallet this week, we counted some change and went for bagels. Yesterday we had ooey gooey egg sandwiches. Today we each had half a salt bagel, toasted, with cream cheese and the Market Pantry six Italian blend cheese from Target that I adore. And spiced peaches I canned August 1.

Now, this is my first 'opening' of stuff I canned without assistance, but if my family contracts botulism in the next few days, we know why.

On a serious note, the peaches smelled fabulous and my daughter ate almost the whole pint.

Broccoli spinach rice casserole

I made a quick casserole last night that my husband said was hearty.

Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup brown rice (measured before steaming)
- 1 bag green giant steam in bag broccoli with premium cheese sauce
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- 3 Morningstar breakfast patties, torn into chunks
- market pantry six-blend Italian cheese

I started with 1 1/4 cup brown rice in the steamer. Prepare broccoli as instructed on bag. Pour broccoli and sauce into rice, add spinach and "sausage." Stir well. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Honey-glazed double grilled cheese

Nothing soothes my soul like a grilled cheese sandwich. I bought Archer Farm multigrain sandwich bread at Target last night with this purpose in mind.

Ingredients:
- 4 slices Archer Farm Multigrain sandwich bread
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- about four ounces extra sharp cheddar
- about 3/4 cup six blend Italian shredded cheese (Market Pantry)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
- 2 tablespoons honey

Put your frying pan or skillet on extra low heat. Drop in the oil and grease pan with fingers or towel. Add one tablespoon butter. Add half the pepper evenly across the pan.

Butter one side of two slices of bread and place in skillet. Coat each slice with an even layer of about 1/4 of the shredded cheese. Cover the cheese with very thin slices of cheddar, covering all the bread. Add evenly the remaining shredded cheese.

Top with buttered slices of remaining bread. You, hopefully, will use less than half the butter. Sprinkle with remaining pepper.

Increase heat to medium and press sandwiches together with a turner. Flip once cheese has melted. Once almost desired brown color, drizzle honey onto the bread. Flip. Add honey to other side. Let first side cook for about a minute-- the honey will burn quickly.

Brown the other side and serve.

Everyday food

Sigh.

Friday night we were supposed to go visit one of our favorite families, but as we got ready to hit the highway on this fabulous holiday weekend, the car began to spray antifreeze everywhere explosively and smoke profusely. We hitched a ride from one of my husband's work colleagues, sitting in the back of the car with the biggest and friendliest black dog ever.

My daughter was devastated. We ordered pizza from Papa Johns and watched the Muppet Show.

Yesterday my daughter went with my mom while I went with my dad to see if this was a quick easy fix, like a hose. Three hours later all I can say is, it's not.

My husband and I made a pasta dish before I left for work. It was wheat rotini in red sauce, simmered with kielbasa and basil, and served with mozzarella on top.

This morning he made chocolate chip pancakes for brunch and now we're having eggplant Parmesan with several kinds of cheeses.

Italian Style Veggie and Rice skillet

One more day and my husband gets paid. The cupboards are getting bare, but yet are older stocked with items like eggs, flour and butter.

I took a bag of steam in bag Italian vegetables, with some sort of mildly seasoned sauce, and the last Boca burger. I threw the veggies in the microwave and fried the veggie burger in olive oil and butter and a dash of soy sauce. I chopped it up, added the veggies, a pinch of four-color pepper, and the leftover two cups of cooked white rice. Added some garlic powder and a little over a tablespoon of butter to keep the rice from sticking to the skillet and...

Voilà.

Far from fabulous. But a fairly healthy lunch.

Mommy's meatballs

• 1/2 cup mixed Italian vegetables, smashed
• about 1 cup hamburger
• about 3/4 cup cheddar cheese cubes
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs from homemade bread
• 3 small cloves roasted garlic
• 6 ounces tomato paste
  

Smoosh vegetables and garlic with pastry blender. Add all ingredients except cheese. When everything is mixed, fold in cheese.

I'm going to fry them in the Le Creuset skillet in the extra virgin olive oil from Forks Mediterranean Deli.

Okay, so I based this on a recipe from about.com and I noticed it didn't include egg. My meatballs don't appear to be binding. I don't know if it's because I'm frying them and turning them too much or because of the egg. Or because of some of my strange ingredients.

I finally smashed them all and added the sauce to the frying pan and let it all simmer into meat sauce.