Eleven: Souper Bowl Sunday

Let's be real. This Sunday's Super Bowl match up isn't the most ideal game to watch for a New York Giants fan however that will not stop me from hanging out with some of my favorite people and eating some of the best game day snacks until I should have stopped eight chicken wings ago. In all honesty, way more excited about the Justin Timberlake halftime show and Pink singing the National Anthem than watching one of the teams I like the least win the biggest game of the year. Whatever - I'm not here to bash either team and may the best one win on Sunday. Add the fact that THE This is Us episode of the century is airing right after to the list of things I'm looking forward to more than the actual game. I'm probably not emotionally prepared for that so won't watch it that night and will save it for a time that I am ready to drown in a puddle of my own tears later on during the week. No spoilers please!

If you're looking for some fabulous game day dips to bring to the parties, scroll on back to Seven: When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip. But for now, I'm sharing with you the easiest, most delicious soup I've made in while - Stuffed Pepper Soup.

Recipe Nineteen: Stuffed Pepper Soup

Stuffed peppers will always remind me of my Grandma. When I was little, when she would make stuffed peppers or stuffed cabbage (galumpkis!), I would only ever eat the stuffing. To this day when she makes a batch of either, she'll give me a call because she put one aside for me - what a gem! Thankfully my palate has grown and I'm no longer anti-vegetables so that wasn't a concern with tonight's dinner. I bought a nice loaf of Italian bread to dunk in the broth and I would highly recommend doing the same. 

Ingredients

2 lbs ground beef

6 cups water

2 bell peppers, chopped (I went for one green and one red)

2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules

1 can (28 oz.) tomato sauce

1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

2 cups cooked rice (I used long grain and made it easy by buying the Uncle Ben's microwave in a bag in 90 seconds package which equals 2 cups... work smarter, not harder, friends)

In a large pot over medium heat, cook and stir beef until no longer pink. I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to the meat while browning. Did I measure? No. Sorry to not be helpful. A couple shakes of each will do. Drain well after cooking or your soup will end up with an oily covering.

Add the peppers, water, beef bouillon, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes and bring to a rolling boil. 

Reduce heat and simmer on low uncovered until peppers are cooked through, approximately 25-30 minutes.

Add cooked rice and continue simmering uncovered for 10 minutes longer. Serve soup into bowls and allow a few minutes to cool so you don't burn your entire mouth from eating piping hot soup.

So easy! So delicious! So pumped to have lunch leftovers for the next few days!

Hope y'all enjoy! 

- Kela

Ten: Oodles of Newdles

Happy New Year, everyone! First blog post of 2018 (one of many, right Kela? Sure). I'm not a big resolutions person because frankly I'm terrible at actually following through with them, but as I typed that I thought that maybe I should make writing more blog posts the goal for 2018. Help keep me accountable? You know what works - asking me for the recipe of things I post on social media. It's how we got here today, well that and the foot of snow going down outside. Oh and the avoidance of taking down the Christmas tree, laundry, etc. that could be getting done today and instead are being put on the backburner so I can spend some time writing. Whatever. Check in tonight to see what I've actually gotten done.

Something BIG is happening in 2018 guys. In a little over a month, this girl turns 30. So far in my last few weeks of my twenties, I've watched the ball drop solo (went to a friend's house and decided to leave at 11pm because I'm actually 29 going on 70), joined a new dating app because I'm sick of the old ones that haven't worked out, won a month of free bagels from Panera, and tried to get into the new season of the Bachelor. I'd say there are a lot of wins in there so maybe 2018 will be my year. As for turning 30, I'm really not that stressed out about it. I know that 30 feels like what should be a major milestone in my life but the reality is that I'm not going to get married or have a kid in the next 6 weeks so there's no point in my wallowing over the fact that I'm not where I thought I would be, even when it seems like everyone else around me is checking off those boxes. Instead I'll be proud of the things I've accomplished in the last 29.9 years and look forward to seeing what's up next for me. I've got a good feeling about you 2018!

Another notable 2018 moment: last night's ramen upgrade. I knew I was in the mood for a noodle bowl of some sort but when browsing through the internet's many, many options, I opted to mix and match a few to get exactly what I wanted. I screen shot a few directions and ingredient lists and headed out to my local grocery store on the day before a blizzard. While everyone else was buying out the store, (why? It's not like we'll never be able to go to the grocery store again. And why is it always bread and milk that go first? I thought we're supposed to hate carbs and drink water) I headed down the international aisle to see what I could find. The recipe called for a few tablespoons each of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and sriracha and though I was able to find them, it felt a little aggressive to buy three slightly expensive bottles of things to use for one recipe and then let them sit in the fridge until I tossed them. So instead I opted to buy a bottle of Kung Pao stir fry sauce, assuming that the flavor profiles would be pretty close and have the heat kick I was looking for. From there, I picked up some packages of Ramen, broth, and a few veggies, knowing I probably had soy sauce at home (I didn't have a bottle like I thought but instead used packets of soy sauce that you get from Chinese or sushi take-out), that I had baby carrots leftover from a NYE veggie platter, and that there was some leftover chicken that needed a little love or was destined for the trash soon. In total, I spent $6.96 and that includes the extra quart of chicken broth that I bought and the six pack of Ramen even though I only needed 2 - this sets me up to make it again soon with another small price tag. The recipe probably makes abut 4 servings aka $1.74 per serving! Amazing! I highly recommend giving this a shot - you'll love it! Most of my inspirations came from here.

Recipe Eighteen: Easy Ramen

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil (or sesame oil if you have it)
2 teaspoons fresh minced ginger
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons stir fry sauce (or 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of Sriracha)
1 cup shredded carrots (I don't have a box shredder so I just finely chopped into strips)
4 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 3oz. packages of Ramen noodles (discard flavor packets)
1/2 cup sliced scallions
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cut into small strips

Instructions
Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and simmer until fragrant.

Add soy sauce and cook for one minute, stirring to blend thoroughly and avoid burning.

Add broth and stir fry sauce. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Add carrots and mushrooms and simmer lightly for at least 10-15 minutes. The longer it simmers, the better the depth of flavor so I covered it and went and watched an episode of Easy on Netflix (30ish minutes).

3 minutes prior to serving, add the Ramen noodles to the pot and cook for those same 3 minutes until cooked and tender.

To repurpose the chicken, I heated it in a skillet with a little stir fry sauce so all pieces were lightly coated. Doesn't take more than a few minutes.

Add some chicken to bowl and ladle the soup and noodles over the top. Garnish with scallions.

So easy guys! You can totally do this! I can't wait to hear how yours came out. I do have the means to make another batch or two so I may just be able to share with a few of you. I'm off to indulge in some leftovers. Thanks to those of you who reached out and asked for the recipe! Happy to share.

I genuinely hope that 2018 is your year!

- Kela