Thursday Already?

I can't believe this week is almost over, it seems to have flown by. My agenda for my day off is as follows:

• Write this blog entry
• Study, Study, Study for my Eco test tomorrow
• Thursday night dinner with the girls

Sounds productive...Evan made me breakfast this morning which was super sweet! Speaking of cooking, way back at the beginning of this year, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to become a better cook in 2010. Well, unfortunately, this was placed on the back burner...so I am bringing it back to life! I have set a goal for myself to cook a nice, new meal at least once a week. I've designated Sunday nights for this project and Evan will be my sampler. :-) Meaning, I will cook dinner on Sunday nights for Evan and myself. I think this will give me great practice and I will become a great chef in 2010! Excitement all around!

In fact, I made dinner Tuesday night and it came out fabulous if I do say so myself. I made Stuffed Peppers, which I found the recipe at All Recipes. They also have an iPhone app, which is fab!

Here it is:

Stuffed Peppers
Serves: 6 (The Web site lets you change the serving size and adjusts accordingly)
Prep Time: 20 min.
Cook Time: 1 hr. (I only cooked for 30 min.)

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 1 cup water
• 6 green bell peppers
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.
3. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)
4. In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.
5. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

I was really surprised at how simple this was and how great they came out! I give it 5 out of 5 stars! A success for sure! Here is a pic of my delicious peppers!

I'm pretty excited about my new cooking project, I think it will be a great way to learn new recipes...trial and error! I better get to studying, I am a little nervous about my test tomorrow. Baby shower #1 is on Sunday, I am excited to see how it turns out. The one I'm co-hosting isn't until May 1st. That's all for now!