Stuffed Red Peppers

With the stuffed flounder I made stuffed red peppers. I have to say these were amazing and I am craving them as I type this post! I think this would have been just as good or even better (if possible) stuffed in a tomato.

Ingredients:

-2 extra large red bell pepper

-4 onces fresh mozzarella cheese - diced

-1 teaspoon crushed dried basil

-1 cup fresh diced bread crumbs

-3 teaspoons olive oil

-1 teaspoon lemon juice

-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

-preheat oven to 400 degrees

-heat bread crumbs in a frying pan with 2 teaspoons of olive oil and brown on all sides

-while bread crumbs are browning wash peppers and slice top off 1/2 inch from top of pepper - set pepper top aside - clean out seeds

-when bread crumbs are browned mix in a bowl with lemon juice, remaining olive oil, mozzarella cheese, basil and salt and pepper to taste

-stuff peppers with mixture and secure pepper tops with toothpicks

-place in a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes

-when they are ready take out of oven and remove pepper tops - slice each pepper in half and serve!

I made a little extra mixture and it could not all fit in the peppers - it was just as good without being baked! I will definitely be making this again -soon!

Monkey Bread

I have seen recipes for Monkey Bread everywhere and it looked some yummy (anything with brown sugar and cinnamon wins me over easily) I had to try it! This can be eaten for breakfast/brunch or as a dessert with coffee.

Ingredients:

-3 cans of 10 count buttermilk biscuts

-1 cup of sugar

-3 tablespoons cinnamon

-1 and 1/2 sticks margarine or butter

-1 cup dark brown sugar

-optional nuts: I used chopped walnuts

-greased pan or bundt pan (If you use a bundt pan put a cookie sheet under it incase any of the butter/margarine melts out of the pan)

Directions:

-preheat oven to 350 degrees

-mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and stir until blended

-rip or cut each biscut into four pieces

-put several pieces at a time into the sugar mixture and coat well

-arrange biscut pieces in pan

-at this time you can sprinkle nuts on top

-melt the margarine/butter and mix in brown sugar and stir until completely blended

-pour the brown sugar and margarine mixture on top and bake for approximately 30 minutes

-take out of oven and let cool for a few minutes before slicing - as it stands it will firm up more

Side view from bundt pan.

I have made this twice now - the first time I made in a pound cake pan and only used 1/3 of all ingredients- I kind of liked it better.

Enjoy for brunch with an omlet and a mimosa:)

Renee's Jo Jo Treats

My coworker Renee makes these for every work party. Someone finally convinced her to give us girls the recipe and now I make them for parties and holidays- everyone loves them and they are so easy to make!

Ingredients:

-1 box saltine crackers
-2 sticks of butter
-1 and a half 12 ounce bags of semi sweet chocolate morsels
-1 and 1/4 cups light brown sugar
-Assorted toppings such as: slivered almonds, crushed candy candys, grated coconut and marshmallows

Directions:

-Preheat over to 400 degrees
-Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil
-Over foil line cookie sheet with crackers in a row to fill entire cookie sheet - never overlap crackers

When crackers are arranged like this you are ready for the next step

-Cut up the 2 sticks of butter and melt slowly in a pan over low heat
-When butter is completely melted add brown sugar and bring to a boil
-Stir or whisk sugar and butter mixture exactly 5 minutes while boiling
-Spoon mixture over crackers - make sure mixture is covering all crackers
-Bake in the oven for 5 minutes
-After the 5 minutes are up take out of oven and evenly distribute chocolate morsels over cookie crackers
-Place back in the oven for another 5 minutes
-When 5 minutes are up take out of oven and spread chocolate over crackers with a knife or spoon
-While chocolate is hot sprinkle toppings of your choice on top
-Refrigerate for at least one hour then take out and peel off of foil and break into pieces (like brittle) the pieces should be different sizes

When you peel the jo-jo treats off of the foil the bottom should be coated with butter and sugar mixture.

I couldnt decide what kind of jo-jo treats I wanted to make so I just made every combination I could think of!

The peppermint one's are my favorite - yum!