Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

I had some sweet bell peppers left over from all the apple canning that needed to be used. I just can not waste things.  I love to make Mexican stuffed peppers  so that sounded like a plan for the bell peppers to me.  I normally make a Mexican style rice to go with my meat mixture that goes in my stuffed peppers but I decided to do yellow rice this time.   I love making rice in my pressure cooker.  It comes out so wonderful and does not clump at all!  There is a secret to that.  A pat of butter is the secret.   I have featured how to  cook rice in the instant pot  before but I did not think about yellow rice when I made that entry.   This is so super easy and honestly, once you make rice in your pressure cooker you will never want to do it any other way, and we have a rice cooker.  I NEVER use it anymore.  It just sits in the attic all alone now.  I am sure it is lonely.   ...

Its that time of year when the hummingbirds are migrating north.  I just saw one buzzing by my feeder.  I don't know about you but I look forward to seeing them each year and a bit sad when its time for them to head south.  I think of them as an acrobat because they flip, flop, dip, and flutter all about.  They are amazing little birds with an interesting personality.   Below are some fun facts about the adorable little bird. INTERESTING & FUN FACTS  Did you know that hummingbirds eat 5 to 8 times an hour?  Hummingbirds eat a variety of foods.  Of course, we know they eat nectar but they also eat tree sap, pollen, and insects.  Yes, insects including spiders. It is best to make food for their feeders because the red dye is harmful to them.  Actually it can be deadly. They have delicate bills so you should be careful when positioning their feeders so they won't get their bills stuck in a window screen. ...

During the Applepolozza experience, I accidentally purchased too many Roma tomatoes for the Apple Salsa  .  That was almost a week ago and they were starting to get riper then I need them too.  You guys know me, my frugal heart hates to waste stuff. I really am not too big on store-bought tomatoes but what do you do when that is your only option because it is only April? We are having some friends, Wade, Cheryl, and Lawrence, over tonight for smoking pizzas on the Big Green Egg.  Jeremy might come too, he loves the pizzas on the BGG. I thought why not make Pico De Gallo for an appetizer.  We need something to munch on as we wait, right? Pico is so simple to make.  I did not care to run to the grocery store because they are doing road work near my house and it takes quite a while to get through.  I do not have the patience today to wait in traffic when I do not have to do so.  That is why I am using the frozen jalapenos instead of fresh....

Dulce De Leche is sweetened condensed caramel that is extremely popular in South America.  I mean let's think about it how can you go wrong with caramel? It is a sinful guilty pleasure of mine.  Ok, you are probably saying, What, she does NOT like sweets.  I say that often but the simple fact is I LOVE sweets.  I just try really hard not to eat them.   This recipe is for your instant pot.  I love my instant pot as much if not more then caramel.  I love to cook.  I convinced my friend Michelle to buy one.  She was here on Tuesday and she brought me her cookbooks that she had purchased.  We were going over some recipes she was thinking about making.  I told her some recipes are just as quick on the stove top but the good thing about the IP is you can use it and not have to sit on what you are cooking like you do with the stove top versions.  Which gives you time to cook other foods or do chores or maybe watc...

These little devils are addicting.  Everyone that I have given a jar to has enjoyed them and my local friends come back for more quite often.  Calling you out guys, Van, Foxy and Lawrence.  I have even shipped them out to Colorado to my friend Sandy.   Candied jalapenos aka Cowboy Candy are spicy sweet pickled jalapenos.  Oh goodness, they are so so GOOD.  I have been making them for MANY years but they have really become popular online in the last 5 or so.   Imagine softened cream cheese being smothered in something hot and spicy but sweet at the same time?  Just take a cracker and dig in.  Bless my heart they are so divine. I have been known to add them to Mexican dishes, pizza, homemade summer sausage.  Oh, and you talk about good put them on a homemade pimento cheese sandwich.  My friend Van eats them with my homemade pimento cheese as a dip on a cracker topped with candied jalapenos.  Nummy Nummy...

For years I have heard or read the wonder of making apple pie filling.  Well, I just am NOT a sweet fan person. I guess that is a bit of a fib, I try not to eat sweets because I know if I get started down that road how it will go for me.  Sweets can be my weakness and since I had not really given in to this urge in a few years I did not see why to make apple pie filling. Oh, I mean people have bragged and bragged all over the internet about how awesome it is to make. Ha, I am not even a huge apple fan.  It really is not that I do not like them but for some reason, I rarely care to eat one.  Unless they are  dehydrated .  I love to eat those by the handfuls. Since something had to be done with all of the apples I finally broke down and made the apple pie filling.  Honestly, it was for my friend Pam Johnson more than myself.  BUT then I made the stuff, oh me oh my I think I am addicted.  I can imagine drizzling it over ice cream and I ...

A while back I found tilapia on sale for hardly nothing.  They were pretty nice sized fillets.  Normally I bake or fry tilapia with a special mix and reduced with white wine but they were so nice sized I thought why not stuff them.  I have to be honest, I had never stuffed fish before.  I had no clue what I was doing, as usual.  I tend to just look at recipes for ideas then make it how I wanna make it.   Most searches brought up crab stuffed tilapia.  Since this was not a per say SPECIAL meal I just could not see my frugal heart wasting money on lump crab meat.  I opted for a spinach and cheese base stuffing.  Of course, not just any ole cheese will do with fish.  I think you need a strong one.  Something to compliant the fish.  I chose a swiss and gruyere mix.   I love onions and since I have 80lbs of them I opted to take a small onion and dice it along with 5 cloves of garlic.  Yes, I love garlic....