Sunday already? WTF! The weekends go by so fast – hate that. Yesterday’s beautiful 70 degree day turned into a cold, raw and rainy yucky Sunday. One of those days where you just want to stay on the couch, snuggled under a blanket all day, in the hopes that there’s a really good lifetime movie on, or maybe a Real Housewives marathon (well, that’s my idea of a good day anyway!)
On this Sunday afternoon, the Bruins are about to be eliminated from the playoffs. And while I’ve removed myself from the living room because I can’t handle the stress, I can pretty much still tell exactly what is going on, thanks to Dave and his ‘commentating’. One minute, I hear “YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH – WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” and the ground is shaking as Dave jumps up and down in front of the t.v. like a little boy on x-mas morning who just opened a brand new x-box, or found out he’ s going to Disney World. And then, what seems like only a few seconds later I hear “F$%@, F$%@, S$@&” every invective on the planet, and I’m prettttty sure that the capitals have just scored – just a hunch.
So I decide that to get my mind off the game, and try to avoid my ear drums being blown out, I’m gonna make something delicious for dinner! I don’t know why, but I’ve had stuffed peppers in my head. It’s a good day for something warm and hearty. I’ve made this Bolognese Stuffed Pepper recipe from Allrecipes.com a few times before, and it is really good. But tonight I wanted to try something a little different. It was just last week that I made those delicious Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls , so I took the recipe for the Bolognese stuffed peppers, and swapped out all the ingredients with those that I thought would comprise the perfect Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Pepper – so here goes nothin!
INGREDIENTS
4 Large bell peppers (I used orange, to be festive)
2 cups of cooked rice (brown or white)
1/2 lb boneless chicken (about 4-5 tenders or one large breast)
1 stalk of celery chopped
1 carrot, minced
3/4 cup frank’s hot sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/3 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup blue cheese
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Slice chicken tenders into small pieces. Season with Salt and Pepper and cook over medium heat til’ cooked through.
3) Add celery and carrot and cook another 2 minutes.
4) Add hot sauce, chicken broth and red pepper flakes. Turn to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.
5) After 10 minutes, add the ranch dressing, 1/2 of the blue cheese and the rice and simmer another 5-10 minutes or so, until liquid is absorbed.
6) Place peppers in a shallow baking dish and fill with the buffalo chicken mixture. Sprinkle top with remaining blue cheese.
7) Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes.
Not to pat myself on the back again but wow, these are really good! I might have used a little less Frank’s next time, only because myself personally am kind of a wimp when it comes to hot stuff, but all the flavors worked really well together. And the best thing about stuffed peppers is that it’s a complete meal all in one little bundle – you’ve got your veggie, your meat and your starch.
And we were finally able to exhale and enjoy these hot little numbers after the Bruins took the win in overtime – game 7 on Wednesday – wish the bruins, me and my ear drums luck!