Jono's Roasted Pepper and Chicken Pasta Salad

We have a guest blogger today ! My boy Jono, who is nine, almost ten (!) cooked dinner for us last night. He got the recipe out of a cookbook he was given for is his birthday, but he made a few small changes.  I asked him this morning if he wanted to write a blog post about it and he was pretty excited to do it ! So ... here you go, in his words ...

hi i am jono and i am going to tell you how to make a roasted pepper and chicken pasta salad

you will need:

2 chicken breasts

1 yellow bell pepper

1 bag of any pasta

1 red bell pepper

a handful of rocket

for the marinade:

2 tbls olive oil

lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 clove garlic, crushed

salt and pepper

for the dressing:

4 tbls olive oil

3 tbls rice wine vinegar

2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tbls green pesto

a bunch of chives

a handful of chopped parsley

first boil some water then get your two chicken breasts and wrap them in cling film. then bash the chicken with a mallet until flat put the chicken in a container and mix in the olive oil lemon juice garlic salt and pepper put in the fridge for 20 minutes. cut the peppers in half and take out the inside then put them under the grill until skin is black. then soak then in water until ready to pick up then pull off the skin and slice them. cook pasta according to packet heat a frying pan to a medium high heat put chicken in and pour marinade on top. once cooked cool for a couple minutes while cooling chicken put pasta in a bowl with peppers and rocket slice chicken and put into the bowl pour the marinade on and mix and it is done. 

Notes from Mom : I didn't want to change any of how he wrote his instructions so here are a few tips (translations) from me ...

bell peppers = capsicum

rocket = arugula

cling film = glad wrap.  saran wrap.

grill = broiler

We made the pesto for the dressing.  We used sweet and greek basil, just a handful or so.  Then added maybe a tablespoon of pine nuts, maybe the same of freshly grated parmesan, added a blub or two of olive oil.  A bit of salt and pepper.  We used the stick blender on that.  Then we just added the rest of the dressing ingredients to that and blended it some more, again ... with the stick blender.

This was DELICIOUS !!!  It served four of us for dinner, and there were three small portions left over for lunches .... luckily I didn't need a packed lunch today since it's my day off !!  Wooo Hooo !!!

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Salsa, Rice & Beans (Crockpot)

4 large bell peppers
2 ½ cups cooked brown rice
15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup tomato salsa
3 scallions, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon sugar

Cut the tops off the bell peppers, save for later use, and remove and discard the seeds and membranes. Arrange the peppers upright in a 5 ½ - 6 quart slow cooker.
(My Crock Pot is only 4 quarts and they turned out fine.)
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the rice, beans, salsa, and scallions and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Fill the prepared peppers evenly with rice mixture, packing it lightly. Replace the pepper tops. In the same mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, cumin, oregano and sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour over and around the peppers in the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on Low for 4 hours, until peppers are fork-tender but still hold their shape.
Serve hot.

Note: Adapted from a recipe from the book titled: Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

{bonnie's black bean chili soup photos}

have you all tried my sister ellie's black bean chili soup ?
i had never made it before the other night
i had eaten it
cooked by ellie while we were in denver
but never cooked it myself

i decided to double the recipe so i'd have leftovers to freeze
and i'm glad because it was freakin' delicious !!!

here's the onion, red/green/yellow capsicum (bell peppers) all chopped up

and now with the garlic

oh man, my mouth is watering ...
good thing i'm having leftovers for lunch !

i didn't serve this on rice
just as is, with corn chips
and topped with avocado, homemade greek yogurt
and grated cheddar cheese

go get the recipe ... it's on this blog already ... and try it

try it ! try it !
and you may.
try it and you may, i say ...

like it that is
green eggs and ham ... if you haven't read it, you need to.