For quite some time I had heard of the method to roast peppers, but I didn’t think it could be nearly as easy as it sounds. Char it over a flame (or under a broiler) on all sides, remove and place into a ziploc bag for about 10 minutes, then you’ll magically be able to peel it with no problems.

Guess what? It really is that easy! Once I tried it, it was an epiphany for me. No more expensive jars of roasted peppers when I could do it myself. I’m partial to throwing it on my gas grill instead of using the oven. Sometimes this leads to me forgetting I have something going on the grill, though; last week it stayed on there for about an hour (now that was charred). Not so easy to peel at that point. Moral of the story – don’t forget about your pepper!

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Cooking outdoors, Dairy free, Gluten free, Quick tip, Vegan, Vegetarian by Courtney

One of my favorite prepare-ahead meals is pizza. Every month or two, I make up a big batch of pizza dough (usually doubling or quadrupling the recipe I have for 2 12-inch rounds), and I portion those out into large size and individual size lumps that are frozen for later.

When I do this, I also like to cube up some mozzarella and portion it into baggies (generally around 5 – 8 ounces per bag) and make a few batches of pizza sauce, freezing those in individual baggies as well. At some point in the month or two, I end up poaching a bag of sauce here, a baggie of mozzarella there, and I end up with just the pizza dough. So there are a couple of go-to pizzas I make when missing the other ingredients. (more…)

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Dinner, Italian, Lunch, Pizza, Prep for Later Use, Vegetarian by Courtney

Steak, baked potato, garlic bread. It was one of the first meals I learned to cook, and throughout middle school, this was often my late lunch. I eventually branched out into chicken, baked potato, and garlic bread, but I hold a special affinity for a bacon-wrapped fillet.

This meal comes together in no time, because there’s not much to it. You can grill or broil the steak, the baked potato can be cooked in the microwave, and the garlic bread can either be baked (in which case, it takes the longest of anything to cook) or you can simply broil it quickly at the end.

Want the details? (more…)

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Cooking outdoors, Dinner, Quick and Easy by Courtney

The good thing about having 6 pounds of zucchini is you can make a lot of different things. So this weekend, I decided to make one of my favorite quick meals, stir-fried zucchini and onions.

This meal was inspired by Japanese steakhouses of my youth. No matter what you ordered, you were sure to get a huge helping of zucchini and onions at any steakhouse. I take a little help from Kikkoman stir-fry sauce which you can usually find in the Asian foods aisle at the grocery store. So in the time it takes you to make the steamed rice, you’ll have a meal ready to go, from chopping to sliding it into the serving bowl! Want the recipe? (more…)

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Asian, Dinner, Quick and Easy, Side Dish, Vegetarian by Courtney