Italian Stuffed Artichokes

I like when Brian is a little scared when I am making something he is unfamiliar with. I get a sick joy out of semi-convincing him that what he’s about to eat may or may not be edible or may or may not be poisonous. That was definitely the case with these stuffed artichokes.

When I was cleaning the artichokes, I jokingly asked him what the first person who decided artichokes might be edible was thinking. He replied by saying that he wasn’t really sure that they were still, and repeatedly asked me, “you really ate these growing up??”. We did grow up eating artichokes in their whole form, enjoying scraping the “meat” from each tender leaf. I stuffed these artichokes with toasted breadcrumbs seasoned with a ton of garlic, nutty anchovies, and fresh parmesan cheese. Delicious.

Crispy Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is a super easy way to make stuffed/rolled chicken of any kind – in this case, I used ham and thin slices of swiss cheese. These are coated in a crispy panko coating and baked until crispy on the outside and moist and cooked through on the inside. Also, and this really is an unnecessary addition and a bit of an indulgence, since I try to avoid super processed foods, but I ALWAYS heat up Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup thinned out with a little water or chicken broth to use as a sauce. It’s delicious and mandatory for me, mostly because that’s what my mama does.

Lighter Chili Rellenos

So you’re probably thinking, “this thing is covered in cheese, how is it ‘lighter’?” Well, friends, this thing is usually sans veggies, deep-fried AND covered in cheese. This is actually a vegetarian meal you can feel pretty good about. Yes, there’s cheese. But cheese makes the world go ’round. And it’s covering loads of corn and veg. Now, I will warn you, poblano peppers can be a little inconsistent in their heat levels. I’ve had them when they’re very spicy or very mild – tonight we sure got some spicy ones! But just dollop some greek yogurt or sour cream on top and all is mellowed out.

Stuffed Peppers with Goat Cheese

Melted goat cheese? Why have I never melted goat cheese before? This smells (and tastes) divine. It is a simple make-ahead recipe too, which I love to do on Sundays to make weeknights easier. Just make the filling, stuff the peppers, and refrigerate. Pop them in the oven on the night you’re ready to serve them and poof – instant dinner.  Please try it with the goat cheese before you get all crazy substituting the cheese. The goat really makes this recipe.

Pizza with Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta

I had some brussels sprouts to use up and adding it to a pizza seemed like the natural thing to do. With some bacon of course. I took the basic premise from one of my favorite fall meals – roasted brussels and pancetta over creamy polenta and decided to make pizza out of it. YUM. In addition, I wanted to use up some of the 12,000 string cheeses I bought a costco a while back so I stuffed the crust with cheese. Win.

Roasted Peppers Stuffed with Pulled Pork Chili Verde

Oh, man, this chili is good. And even better inside a roasted pepper underneath melted cheese with a little avocado and red onion and some sour cream if you like…oh boy, this was good.

Sweet Potato Breakfast Taquitos

I was psyched to stumble upon this recipe this morning as I was trying to figure out to do with odds and ends still in the fridge before doing the week’s grocery shopping. I pretty much always keep corn tortillas in the house since they have a great shelf life and are more flavorful than flour tortillas.  And this time of year, I always have a random sweet potato or two hanging around that didn’t get eaten during the week. These taquitos rock! Will definitely be making again.

Stuffed Peppers with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

I’m way into pretty summer foods right now. You know what I’m talking about. The eye candy factor of summer food totally trumps other seasons…and while I am desperately waiting for my favorite season (fall) to arrive, I am biding my time enjoying some nice color.

Vegetarian Samosas with Mint-Cilantro Sauce

These are my new obsession!! I love love love samosas but anything deep-fried always comes with a side of guilt. These, my friends, are BAKED. And AWESOME. I kind of want to put this sauce on everything (cats beware).

Baked Stuffed Greek Chicken

I love a good stuffed chicken breast, but I love even more when I have all the ingredients I need on hand when a particular craving strikes. Since my list of recipes-to-try grows more ad more each week, I also love knocking one off the list from time to time. I ripped this out of RR’s Everyday Magazine because it looked like an easy, healthy weeknight recipe.  I served it with English Peas (recipe soon!) and my standby cous cous.

Taco Stuffed Zucchini

Is it possible to have a crush on a blog? If so, I currently have two hard-core crushes. Our Life in Food — my savior in my efforts to eat low-carb and not kill myself.  Seriously, I stumbled on to this blog as a “normal reader” — aka, not looking specifically for a low-carb site. Her photos are impeccable and you don’t even realize that most of the recipes avoid carbohydrates until you’re already hitting the print button.

And On the Woodside, for the kind of writing which helps you live life a little more…tenderly.  Absolutely can’t get enough.  I’ll stop there for fear of sounding like a stalker, even though I kind of am.

Anyway, I found and printed this stuffed zucchini recipe a few months back, before I realized I was obsessed with Our Life in Food.

I love mexican flavors, and again, the photo of these just called to me. I’m sorry to say that my photo is BAD, but this dish is YUMMY. Seriously yummy. The filling tastes like the best taco dip you ever had, and Brian devoured two halves in no time. Since I am such a dainty eater (…), I only had one half.  SO good, and can’t wait to eat the leftovers.

Chicken Stuffed with Prosciutto, Fontina, and Herbs

I had to triple-check to make sure I hadn’t posted this before. This used to be one of my stand-by recipes; the one,  while I was still getting my feet wet in the kitchen, I could still confidently serve another human being and feel good about it. I found myself with all of the ingredients for this dish in the fridge, and was reminded of how much I love it!

Prosciutto Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Fontina and Sage

ZOMG these are good. Perfect blend of salty, sweet, and savory. Yum. These were brought to my family’s house on Christmas so unfortunately I didn’t get a picture when they came out of the oven. Let me assure you that they get nice and crispy and a little oozy with cheese. Perfect make-ahead appetizer, too.

Stuffed Flank Steak with Boursin and Prosciutto

Each year, my mother and I drive up to York, ME for a cooking class at the Stonewall Kitchen headquarters. This steak was taught and served, and I loved it. You can stuff it with whatever you like, but I love this combo of boursin cheese (amazing stuff with the steak), spinach, roasted peppers, and prosciutto.

Biscuit & Egg Cups

I’ve been sick for almost a full week, so I needed some comfort food this weekend. These biscuits were easy, yummy, and naughty, which are all good things for me right about now.

Stuffed Figs with Prosciutto di Parma

If you make nothing else from this blog, make this (and now, while figs are in season!).

While visiting with my parents this weekend, my mom whipped up a little fig snack with these very same ingredients (minus the prosiutto), and it was delicious. And then, Sunday morning, I was thumbing through Mario Batali’s Molto Italiano (I have a goal to cook more from my multitudes of cookbooks!), and was super excited to see this recipe. This recipe is like a hug on a plate. Eat it now!

Bacon and Feta Stuffed Oregano Chicken

So, even though this has BACON and CHEESE, I wasn’t wildly excited about this meal. Until I ate the first bite. Then, then I was in love.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

Lately I’ve been into stuffing stuff. I get a ton of stuffable veg from my CSA, but I have yet to see a mushroom, which I am always strangely craving. I was in the process of trying to manage my completely out of control freezer, and I found a few of my favorite fatty provolone and garlic pork sausages tucked away. I knew they must be stuffed. This filling is really delicious — so delicious, that I couldn’t help but sample a few spoonfuls during the stuffing process. Salty, cheesy, herby, savory. MMM.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Mini Peppers

I bought a big back of these adorable mini peppers at mecca/costco the other day (Brian will tell you it’s because I couldn’t resist the mini pepper cartoon guy on the package, but don’t listen to him) Anyway, I also happened to buy a 50lb log of goat cheese (slight exaggeration) and thought these would make a delectable little snack. I was right. I mixed the goat cheese with basil as I had a gigantic bushel from my CSA this week…any other fresh herbs would be fantastic too.

Crab and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

I just bought another ginormous tub o’ crabmeat at Costco (if Costco were a person, I’d marry it). Expect to see a couple of crab recipes coming up, as I love it, and have a TON of it. Anyway, this is a super easy and relatively healthy recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Now Eat This by Rocco Dispirito. It was intended in the book to be an appetizer (and would make a lovely one using smaller mushrooms), but I decided to bump it up a little to make it suitable for lunch.