Sunday, June 21, 2020

Peppers And Tomatoes Stuffed With Quinoa And Chorizo

I have been intrigued by the idea of stuffed peppers for a long time.  My mother's side of the family immigrated from Eastern Europe two generations ago and stuffed peppers are a favorite in those cultures. I thought the idea of using something hearty and healthy to stuff peppers with sounded like a great idea, but I thought I could put my own spin on it.  I have seen various quinoa stuffed veggies over the years and that seemed like a good start. After some further thought, I decided to use cooked chorizo as the meat in the dish.  Admittedly the sausage makes the dish way less healthy but I do feel less guilty since quinoa rocks as a superfood.  I do have to be honest I made the food more for taste than nutrition but there is at least some nutrition to it with the vegetables, the quinoa and the chia seed.

But that was not the only way I experimented with the dish. While discussing this idea with my wife, she suggested adding a poblano chili to the stuffing and I thought that was an excellent idea. Then, to round out the flavors, we added some chopped onion.  Finally, since my wife is not fond of cooked peppers, we stuffed some tomatoes to suit her tastes. The final dish was as follows:

1 small sweet onion chopped
1 pound chorizo
1 poblano, seeded and chopped
1 cup quinoa, cooked according to directions
About 1 tablespoon of chia seed(Available from Costco)

Peppers and tomatoes, tops cut off and centers cleaned for stuffing

Oven was preheated to 350 degrees.

The chorizo and onion were sauteed together, until the chorizo was cooked through. The chopped poblano was then added and cooked for a few moments. Finally, the cooked quinoa was added, along with chia.  The filling was mixed together and then the vegetables were stuffed.

The stuffed vegetables were placed in the oven and cooked until the tops were browned a bit, about 20 minutes. (Please feel free to cook these to your preference).

Aside from being good eats, I thought the results were attractive:



This was definitely a success and I highly recommend experimenting with stuffed peppers and tomatoes.

A Review of Costco's Beef Bulogi Korean BBQ

As readers of this blog know we like to cook but sometimes we like a tasty meal that is not a lot of work.  Costco's Beef Bulogi Korean Barbecue nails this for us.

It is sold in the deli section in a good family sized portion and as soon as you open it, it looks good!



Before cooking, my wife cut it up a bit and then put it in our red Tramontina skillet we got from Costco.  We have affectionately nicknamed this pan "Big Red" and it gets a lot of use in our house.  It is one of the few items we kept when we upgraded our cookware with that fabulous set of Calphalon from Costco.


After cooking it smells good and looks great.


We served it with brown rice and Costco's Quinoa Salad.  I imagine some people find the two side dishes redundant but the rice and the salad really have very different tastes and texture profiles so there is a lot of good variety in this meal.


This worked really well for us. The beef was a flavorful and quick meat dish, the rice was a nice compliment to eat with the beef and the salad was a tasty, brightly flavored side dish.

The beef bulogi also works well in a beef sandwich so you can leverage into a variety of different meals.

This is has definitely become one of our favorite deli items at Costco and we will definitely buy it again.

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Our Best Pizza Ever-Chicken and Artichoke Hearts with Pesto Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella


We have made a lot of pizza at home over the years and with the current pandemic we have been make it about every other week lately.  We do a lot of pepperoni by itself or with a variety of toppings. But we do tend to make two pizzas at a time and we also go for some variety.  We had some chicken in the freezer that I pulled out for the meat on the second pizza.  For a crust, I made our extremely reliable and easy recipe from Tyler Florence.

For a sauce on the pizza we used the Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.  

Here is the crust with the pesto on it:


I add some Artichoke Hearts from Costco.

After adding the chicken the pizza is starting to look pretty good!


Finally, I add the Belgioioso Fresh Mozzarella and it goes in the oven with its companion pepperoni based pizza.


Bake it until it is golden brown and delicious and you end up with this magnificent pizza.

The pesto sauce gives a very different cheesy, herbal flavor versus the more typical marinara sauce.  Chicken as a meat is a good match for the other major topping of the artichoke hearts.  Finally, the fresh mozzarella completes the profile of brighter, less heavy flavors.

As I said, we tend to make a lot of pizza.  We always have enjoyed what we have made but this one really stands out as the best pizza we have ever made.  And with all the quality ingredients we get from Costco at a great price it is really easy and affordable to make.

I absolutely recommend getting some pesto, cheese and artichoke hearts from Costco and making your own killer pizza like this.

I am really confident you will love it.

Enjoy!

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Costco In Warehouse Hot Buys for 6/13 to 6/20

Costco is again running a weeklong Hot Buy Sale.  Below is a summary of food, beverage and cooking related items.

Kerrygold Salted or Unsalted Butter, $4 off, Limit 3.  Here is a link to various posts involving Kerrygold Butter.

Beyond Meat The Beyond Burger, 8/4oz patties, $3 off, Limit 3. While I have not had these burgers yet, we have enjoyed meatless burgers and burgers in general.

Trident Alaska Salmon Burgers, 12 count, $4 off, limit 3

San Pellegrino 24/15.9 fl oz bottles, $4.50 off, Limit 5

Cheetos Crunchy, 28.8 oz bag, $1.50 off, Limit 4

Mini Watermelon, Organic or Conventional, $1 off, Limit 10

Sonoma Creamery Bacon Cheddar Crisps, 10 oz, $2.90 off, No Limit

Kind Bars Nuts and Spices Variety Pack, 20 count, $5 off, Limit 5

Sabatier 10 Piece Cutlery Set with Acacia Wood Block, $15 off, Limit 5

GoGurt, 32/2.25oz, $3.20 off, Limit 10

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie, 60 count, $1.50 off, No Limit

Raisin Bran Crunch, 2/28.3 oz bags, $2.40 off, Limit 10

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Keurig K-Cup Pods, Hazelnut Flavored, 54 count, $19.99, Limit 5

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Review Of Hawaiian Style Chicken by Naples Kitchen On Sale At Costco Until 6/14




We saw this in the monthly sales flyer and I knew we had to try it and we are very glad we did.  It was normally $14.99 but with the coupon it was only $10.49 for the three pound package.


The directions were to warm up the chicken in the oven and the sauce separately in a pan on the stove but I was lazy and ignored the directions and just dumped it all into a 9 by 13 glass baking dish.


I put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F and it came out like this:


We served it with rice and some of the Normandy Style Vegetables we keep on hand in the freezer.



We really like this chicken.  It had a bit of tang and sweetness, but it was definitely not a Sweet and Sour Chicken.  It definitely had character, flavor and good texture.  Serving it with rice gave something to up soak up every little bit of the yummy sauce and the vegetables on the side made it a complete meal.

 My only comment is that I should have followed directions.  Heating up the sauce separately like the directions said would have made for a better temperature of the chicken and the sauce.  But that is completely my fault-next time I will follow the instructions!

Also, we found that this made six really nice servings with the meal as we served it.  The package says 10 servings but to do that you would probably want more on the side to make it a complete meal.  But even at full price at six servings per package that $2.50 a serving and on sale it is less than $1.80 per serving. You can use this as a foundation of a really nice meal and even with sides still come out at a less than the price of a Whopper Junior meal.



We will definitely buy this again and it gets a full and complete recommendation from me and my wife.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

June 2 Is National Rotisserie Chicken Day And Here Are Some Of My Favorite Posts

Rotisserie Chicken is one of the best food inventions ever and it is fitting that there is a day to celebrate this glorious food!  I thought this was a good time to go over some of our best posts about the fine birds we get at Costco.

One of our favorite things to do with Rotisserie Chicken is to remove the the meat and put it in recipe sized containers and make stock from the carcasses.

Two Birds in the Hand is Worth Five Packages of Chicken and Four Quarts of Stock in the Freezer.

Using the chicken and stock we have in the freezer I made some wonderful Chicken Soup with a couple of twists to it.

Chicken Quinoa Soup with Vegetables.


It is getting warmer and summer salads make a great meal.  They can also be lighting fast.  Here is one that came together at warp speed.

Caprese Con Pollo Salad.

Here is another salad idea but this one has beans in it for a totally different but tasty character.

Chicken Salad With Cannellini Beans, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Green Pepper and Sweet Onion.

Sometimes I like to take a recipe from someone else, make a a bunch changes and then have some with similar flavors but essentially a brand new dish.

Chicken with Artichoke Hearts in a Piccata Style Sauce Over Rice.

I can say with complete confidence I will have more posts using this versatile, flavorful and affordable food.

Be well and good eating to you all.

Monday, June 1, 2020

Dinner with Kirkland Signature Pesto on Pasta with Sabatino's Sausage and Normandy Vegetables- A True Costco Meal









We like to cook but sometimes it is nice to have a meal at home that you put together yourself but is also a real time saver.   That was this dinner.  I started by turning on the Griddler and getting it warm. At the same time I got the water boiling for the pasta.  For a sauce for the spaghetti I chose the Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.  This is an excellent pesto at a great Costco price.


For the meat serving I chose the Sabatino's Smoked Mozzarella with Artichokes and Garlic Chicken Sausage. Being a chicken sausage they are somewhat lower in fat than beef or pork sausages but they taste great. They are also fully cooked so all you have to do is get them warm.  However we do like to brown them for maximum taste but that is your choice.  While I used our Griddler for quick indoor cooking these are also fabulous over a charcoal grill.

They were on sale at Costco earlier this year and we tried them in part because of that.  But we will definitely consider buying them again for their great taste and convenience.  They come in a three pound package with four smaller packages of four each for a total of 16 sausages.




For the vegetables we had some Kirkland Signature Normandy Style Vegetable Blend.  Having frozen veggies on hand is a nutritious and convenient strategy.  All you have to do is microwave them and you are ready to eat.


While we cooking the pasta I microwaved the veggies and grilled the sausage.  Dinner came together very quickly and easily.  And it was a breeze to serve.


This meal was complete with vegetables, meat and pasta.  It was also darn tasty too and pretty affordable.  Add in the fact that it came together in minutes make this a real winner for a weekday supper or an easy weekend lunch. Actually, it is a fine meal anytime but when you need some speed this really rocks!

Enjoy!