why i heart the internet

remember this? well, not anymore. turns out you don't need cookbooks if you have the internet. really, it taught me how to cook. since i've been enjoying people's cooking adventures on blogs lately, i figured i'd update my own.

it started last thanksgiving. i was away from my family, and couldn't bear the thought of not having thanksgiving the way it used to be, so i made my own. i looked up the recipes for the things i wanted and called my mom to fill in the details. and although i was imagining disaster a la pieces of april, everthing turned out perfectly.


i couldn't believe how easy cooking is, turns out i'm really good at following directions. and everthing you need to know, for instance what blanching is and how to chop celery, is right there on the internet.

i search allrecipes, which has awesome reviews were people rate recipes and also leave comments on what to change and what to leave, and find things that i want to make, and print them for my recipe binder (yes, i'm a nerd). i usually try at most one a week, but it's something i really look forward to. (seriously, half of my christmas list is kitchen supplies.)

ok. so here's what i'm most proud of. my grandma used to make me these big pans of stuffed peppers and they were so good. i'd been craving them for, like, the last 8 years. and i couldn't find a recipe that sounded exactly like what she did, so i made my own. seriously. i took maybe 10 recipes and read them all to see what people did, and made up my own from a distant memory of my grandma's peppers. and they were just like hers. maybe better. and so easy. i think i've made them 4 or 5 times already:

classic southern stuffed bell peppers

ingredients:

4 green bell peppers
1 lb ground sirlion
1 cup chopped onion (about half of a big one.)
3/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 (8 oz!) can roasted garlic tomato sauce (or plain and some minced garlic, i suppose)
tonys (original creole seasoning - this is the secret to everything!)

what to do:

1) cut peppers in half and remove seeds and stems and stuff. blanch*.

2) brown meat and onions in a skillet.

3) in big bowl, mix the meat mixture in big bowl with 1/2 can tomato sauce, almost all the bread crumbs, worcestershire sauce, and then shake tonys all over the top. i stir it, then shake tonys all over the top again.

4) put peppers in a pan, then spoon meat mixture into it, packing well. top each with a spoonful of tomato sauce and sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs.

5) Bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees.

*ok, to blanch them you bring to boil one cup of water, throw half the peppers in, cook them for 5 minutes, covered, moving around a little. then you take them out and put them directly into a big bowl of ice and water. then repeat with the other half. this is how i do it anyway.