Stuffed

You know how people always claim to be emotional eaters or eat when they're bored or because they're happy or drunk or just because the food is sitting there?! I've never thought of myself as one of these eaters. I eat what I like (including butter and even white bread - artisinal with crispy crust hot out of the oven = YUM), but maybe because I'm usually so busy with work and school and volunteering and family gatherings and lady dates and date dates, eating just isn't usually the focus of my every day.

HOWEVER, lately food has become just that. I shop for food, I'm constantly creating recipes in my head, and I read Shape and Women's Health magazine for the dinner ideas instead of the workout advice. Bottom line, I obviously don't have much going on so all I think about is food!

And, food is becoming an activity. Yesterday, with nothing to do but apply for jobs I went downtown for lunch and I was surrounded by literally millions of food options (well, I ruled out Sushi Boat right away, so 999,999 options). I could have eaten absolutely ANYWHERE, but for some reason I chose Boudin, a San Francisco classic sandwich shop specializing in sourdough bread. It's like comfort food. I had a salad and a chocolate chip cookie and instead of my usual eating and being finished and moving on I sat there and mowed that whole salad, the small loaf of sourdough that comes with it (and if the server had actually come by I would have asked for butter), and then ate the whole giant cookie until I was so stuffed I could barely get up from the table.

Maybe my current stuffed state (I'm currently munching a slice of nectarine blackberry upside-down cake) inspired me to make two deliciously stuffed meals (well, three if you count the store-bought ravioli's we had with spinach and tomatoes).

Quinoa-Stuffed Poblano Chiles

Adapted from Cooking Light, but the recipe was suuuuper bland, I added spices, salt and pepper jack cheese. The original recipe claimed 4 servings, but they're small so you're going to want to eat 2-3 peppers (depending on how large the peppers are that you find). I served these with black beans and Trader Joe's vegetable tortilla chips with flax seed (they're our favorite).

Ingredients

    4 (5-inch) poblano chiles (I used Anaheim, it was all I could find)

    1 1/2 cups water

    3/4 cup uncooked quinoa

    Olive oil

    1/2 cup (1 small) chopped zucchini

    1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

    1/2 cup chopped onion

    ½ of a 3-4 inch minced seeded jalapeno pepper (leave the seeds if you're braver than me)

    2 garlic cloves, minced

    1 tsp cumin

    1 tsp red pepper flakes

    salt and pepper to taste

    2 tablespoons unsalted pumpkin seed kernels

    1/2 cup minced green onions

    4 tablespoons minced cilantro (I always use more than that)

    2 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce (add soy and lime juice to taste)

    2 tablespoon lime juice

    2 cups tomato juice (I used el Pato brand tomato sauce, it's spicy and delicious)

    1 cup or more pepper jack cheese, grated

Preparation

1.       Preheat oven to 350°.

2.       Cut chiles in half lengthwise; remove stems and seeds, roast over open flame on gas stove top or under broiler in oven until blackened and you can smell the pepper. Set aside. Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 13 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Set aside.

3.       Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil into pan and warm over med-high heat. Add bell peppers, onion, jalapeño pepper, garlic and spices; sauté 2 minutes. Add pumpkin seed kernels; saute 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in quinoa, green onions, cilantro, soy sauce, and lime juice and salt and pepper. Spoon quinoa mixture into each chile half until completely stuffed and spilling over!

4.       Pour tomato sauce into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish; place stuffed chiles in dish, sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until cheese melts and chiles are thoroughly heated. Remove from oven and spoon tomato sauce from the pan over chiles.

Stuffed French Toast
With almost a full container of fresh ricotta from Whole Foods (from another meal) we HAD to make stuffed french toast, obviously! The ingredients listed make enough for two people. Best served with really yummy breakfast sausage and some fresh fruit...or just a cold glass of milk and some Mrs. Butterworth's (really quality syrup)

   4 pieces of day-old brioche or high-quality french bread
   4 eggs
   1-2 tsps vanilla
   1 tsp cinnamon
   1/2 cup cream (shhh don't tell Dan I added cream!)
   Raspberries
   1/2 to 1 cup ricotta

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and cream in a bowl and pour into a baking dish large enough to soak the bread (I used a glass Pyrex dish). Spread two pieces of bread with as much ricotta as you can stand and place raspberries into this fluffy goodness. Top with another piece of bread. Place brioche "sandwiches" into egg mixture to soak. I placed a piece of foil on top and a heavy object from the kitchen to kinda squeeze it down and make sure the whole piece of bread got soaked. Then flip it over in 10-ish minutes to soak the other side.

Melt a tab of butter in the frying pan or griddle and place a french toast sandwich in the center. Brown each side and transfer to an oven-safe dish. Place in 300 degree oven for 10 minutes (to make sure the ricotta gets warm and melty).

Sprinkle with powdered sugar (for looks) and enjoy!!

I would like to experiment with soaking the bread first and then adding the stuffing to make sure all of the bread gets egged, but that would be messy and I haven't done it yet! Let me know if you try it out!