Monday, August 23, 2010

all this sleeplessness has made me productive

I have lost a lot of sleep lately. I don't know for sure why, but probably because I don't handle stress as well as I used to and all the scheduling of classes and missing out on various fun activities, has stressed me out and made me depressed. (Side note: I have two classes now, they were the only two that I needed that were left. BUT, I have classes and I'm happy about something to show for all my hard work!) This lack of sleep has a few perks though. I've made a menu for our family for the next five weeks. All of my coupons are clipped and filed and ready to go. I finally finished going through all the toys we need to get rid of. And I also finished putting my tags into the system for the resale at the end of the month. And of course, I've been reading a lot again. This is our menu for the coming week:

Monday: Stuffed Bell Peppers
Tuesday: Different Chicken Divan
Wednesday: White Bean Chicken Chili (Crockpot)
Thursday: Spaghetti Pie  
Friday: dinner out
Saturday: Italian Gumbo
Sunday: Grill (guys cook - it's my birthday!)


I've never made Stuffed Bell Peppers before, but they are one of the hubby's favorites, so it is high time that I give it a try. I'll go ahead and post the recipe today and let you know if it's a yummy one tomorrow. :)


Stuffed Bell Peppers
6 large green bell peppers
1 lb ground beef or turkey (I plan to add just a bit of Italian seasoning)
2 Tbsp chopped onion
dash of salt
2 cups cooked rice
1- 15oz can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded Mozzarella

-Remove seeds and membranes from each pepper and rinse. 
-Cook peppers in enough water to cover on medium-high for 5 minutes and drain.
-Brown meat and onion in skillet and drain. 
-Stir in salt (and Italian seasoning, if desired), rice and 1 cup of tomato sauce. Heat thoroughly.
-Stuff each pepper with mixture. Stand upright in greased baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over peppers.
-Cover and bake @ 350 for 45 minutes. 
-Uncover and sprinkle cheese over top and place back in oven to melt.


I plan to post some of the other recipes from our menu this week. I am especially excited about the Different Chicken Divan. A friend from work gave it to me a couple years ago and I had forgotten about it. It is very tasty and I can't wait to make it again. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. And no, you aren't reading things incorrectly, I really am up and posting a blog at 5:00am. I went to bed early and woke up at 4am, wired for sound. Maybe it will make me even more productive today to get my blog-fix this early. :)

4 comments:

Holly said...

How different our lives have become! I went to bed AFTER 4 a.m. Nick had a lab practical today, and I have trouble falling asleep when I know he's coming to bed. I'm SO glad you got into a few classes. Congrats on all your hard work to get there! I'm still jumping through hoops with my program. My mom used to make us stuffed peppers. The recipe sounds very similar. I have such a hard time figuring out what to make for dinner each night. Go, Cassie, for being so organized!

Cassie said...

We always struggle with:
C:"What do you want for dinner?"
G:"I don't care. What do you want?"
and so on and so on...
So, I decided a long time ago that if he never seems to care what I make, I'll create a menu and we then we aren't eating dinner at 9pm! I usually only make the menu for two weeks, but I was going through my cookbooks for new stuff and came up with a super long list of options. Therefore, we have five weeks of different stuff! I hope it all tastes as great as it sounds.

Babes Mami said...

I'm a menu maker too! Makes life a little easier when it's hectic.

I go through a few weeks of no sleep,a week of good sleep, repeat.

G. William Lange said...

The peppers were really good!

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